Green synthesis of Ag nanoparticles from Leucus aspera and its application in anticancer activity against alveolar cancer

Abstract Leucus aspera is a perennial plant traditionally used as an herbal medicine in many countries. The biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles using medicinal plants is not only economical but also environmentally friendly as well as having miscellaneous biomedical applications. In this study, Leucus aspera extract as a stabilising and reducing agent was utilised to synthesise Ag nanoparticles in the aqueous medium. In addition, the anti-alveolar cancer property of AgNPs was investigated in the in vitro condition. Various techniques containing UV–Vis. spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) were used to characterise the synthesised nanoparticles. On the other hand, the MTT assay was run to evaluate the cytotoxicity activity of AgNPs. The crystal size of AgNPs, according to the XRD analysis, was 34.22 nm. Moreover, the uniform spherical morphology ranging from 40.67 to 58.17 nm was detected in the SEM images for the biosynthesised nanoparticles. In the antioxidant test, the IC50 of AgNPs and BHT against DPPH free radicals were 87 and 41 µg/mL, respectively. The synthesised nanocomposite had very low cell viability and high anti-alveolar cancer activities against A549 cell line without any cytotoxicity on the normal cell line (HUVEC). The viability of malignant alveolar cell line reduced dose-dependently in the presence of Ag NPs. Perhaps notable anti-alveolar cancer activities of the synthesised nanocomposite against common alveolar cancer cell line are linked to their antioxidant activities.