Eco-Friendly Mycogenic Synthesis of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Using Volvariella volvacea and Unveiling its Potential as Antibiofilm and Anticancer Agents

This research explores the eco-friendly creation of functional, biocompatible nanomaterials through green chemistry, utilizing natural extracts over chemicals to produce metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. The study focuses on iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized with Volvariella volvacea (GIONP) and evaluates their physical, chemical, and biological traits, including their anticancer capabilities, against traditionally made IONPs (CIONP). GIONPs, confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering, showed enhanced stability and consistent size distribution. They also demonstrated smaller sizes via Fe-scanning electron microscopy analysis, and X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared studies verified their crystalline structure and organic functional groups. Notably, GIONPs exhibited strong antioxidant properties, low toxicity to blood cells, promising for intravenous use, and greater antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities against various bacterial strains than CIONPs. The study revealed that both GIONPs and CIONPs exhibit a similar degree of toxicity towards MDA-MB 231 cancer cells. The internalization of GIONPs within these cells was verified through a Prussian blue assay and further supported by the concentration-dependent increase in intracellular iron levels post-treatment. These findings underscore the successful formulation of GIONPs that are not only biocompatible and eco-friendly but also capped with bioactive compounds, highlighting their promising applications in the field of biomedicine.