Bioactivity of biogenic silver/silver chloride nanoparticles from rhizome extract: Antibacterial and antioxidant properties with anticancer potential against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma and human breast cancer cell lines.

INTRODUCTION

This study explores the synthesis and characterization of silver/silver chloride nanoparticles (Ag/AgCl-NPs) using rhizome extract and evaluates their bioactivities, including antibacterial, antioxidant, and anticancer potentials.

METHODS

The synthesis of Ag/AgCl-NPs was initially confirmed by a color change and a sharp peak at 463 nm in UV-visible spectroscopy. Further characterization was conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Antibacterial properties were checked against four pathogenic bacteria ( and ), and antioxidant activities were assessed using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) assay. In addition, the anticancer potential was evaluated using MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) colorimetric assay and using the mouse models. Finally, toxicity was determined by employing the brine shrimp nauplii lethality assay.

RESULTS

Ag/AgCl-NPs most effectively inhibited the growth of , showing maximum zone of inhibition and 7 μg/mL of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and prevented the biofilm formation by at 40 μg/mL. They displayed antioxidant activities against DPPH and ABTS with IC values of 90.65 and 24.34 μg/mL, respectively. , they inhibited 61.96 % EAC and 49.63 % MCF-7 cells growth at 32 and 128 μg/mL, respectively. Subsequently, inhibition rates of EAC cells growth in mice were measured as 38.30 %, 57.38 %, and 31.81 % after employing 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg/day of Ag/AgCl-NPs, respectively. Moreover, Ag/AgCl-NPs treated mice were found to carry more apoptotic EAC cells with distorted morphology. Treated mice showed decreased tumor weight, increased mean survival time, and a lifespan increase of up to 30 %, with improved hematological parameters. Later, Ag/AgCl-NPs exhibited moderate toxicity with an LC value of 208.41 μg/mL in brine shrimp nauplii lethality assay.

CONCLUSION

The promising antibacterial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities along with mild toxicity suggest the potential biomedical uses of rhizome extract-mediated Ag/AgCl-NPs.