Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles: Understanding Biological Activities - Anticancer, Antimicrobial, and Plasmid DNA Cleavage through Reactive Oxygen Species Release

Abstract

This study is designed to explore the preparation, characterization, biological impacts, and DNA degradation abilities of green synthesized NPs. The UV-visible analysis confirms the reduction of Ag along with pH. FTIR studies were used to determine the functional groups involved in the reduction reaction. Moreover, HR-TEM and XRD reveal the morphology and crystal plane of the NPs. Further, XPS study confirms the elemental analysis and oxidation state of metal. On the other hand, biological studies are performed to achieve the excellence of NPs, such as anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, and DNA degradation activities. The obtained results revealed that Ag-NPs exhibited a good anti-bacterial effect against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Moreover, Ag-NPs showed cytotoxicity against breast cancer cell lines (40 and 50 μg/ml respectively), and pBR322 DNA degradation. Herewith, we report a simple synthesis of Ag-NPs with benign, environmentally safe, biological reduction by using natural biomolecules. The synthesized Ag-NPs confirmed the size around 10 nm and the ability to produce ROS under visible light irradiation. Finally, Ag-NPs exhibited cytotoxicity, including intracellular ROS generation, cell death, loss of mitochondrial potential, and DNA fragmentations on breast cancer cells. Importantly, Ag-NPs showed nuclease activity.