Evaluating the biomedical potential of phytomediated silver doped zinc oxide nanoparticles derived from n-butanol fraction of Adiantum venustum D. Don

Abstract

Cancer and bacterial antibiotic resistance are the first two pressing issues confronting the pharmaceutical industry today. With this in mind, the current goal of this research is to create eco-friendly, green synthesized nanostructures that have the potential to at least partially eliminate these issues. The research aims to synthesize ZnO (zinc oxide) and Ag-doped ZnO (silver doped zinc oxide) nanoparticles with two different concentrations (Ag_xZn_1-xO) and variations in their biological potential. To the best of our knowledge, the n-butanol fraction of A. venustum is being used as a first attempt to synthesize Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles that too with varying concentrations. The XRD (X-ray diffraction) technique endorses the materialization of wurtzite structure for zinc oxide (ZnO–B) and hexagonal wurtzite configuration for the silver-doped complexes (AgZnO–B1 and AgZnO–B2). The Scherrer formula was utilized to examine the average crystallite sizes of ZnO–B (29.21 nm), AgZnO–B1 (22.03 nm), and AgZnO–B2 (27.76 nm). Using transmission electron microscopy micrographs, the grain sizes of AgZnO–B1 (57.72 ± 1.84 nm), AgZnO–B2 (75.31 ± 2.03 nm), and ZnO–B (45.84 ± 0.57 nm) were measured. The XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) revealed the Zn²⁺ and Ag ⁺ oxidation state of green synthesized nanoparticles. Additionally, the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticancer activities were assessed in relation to the n-butanol fraction of A. venustum and the synthesized nanomaterials. Of all the synthesized nanoparticles, AgZnO–B1 has proven to be a potent biomedical agent in all biological activities. AgZnO–B1 was found to have potential as an anti-inflammatory (IC₅₀- EAA 33.63 ± 0.05 μg/mL; BSA 28.02 ± 0.80 μg/mL) and anticancer (IC₅₀ 85.27 μg/mL) agent in the study. Therefore, it should be underlined that nanoparticles have enormous biological efficacy and used in a range of therapeutic contexts.