Unveiling the anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial properties of in situ phyto-fabricated silver nanoparticles: an in vitro approach

Abstract

Phyto-fabricated nano-biomaterials like silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) possess the potential to serve as smart nanomedicine platforms for the medical assessment and treatment of a diverse array of diseases including cancer and infectious ones. This investigation made use of an aqueous leaf extract of Xanthium strumarium for the purpose of phyto-fabricating Ag NPs. Several analytic techniques were used to study the structure, morphology and optical properties of Ag NPs, such as ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Additionally, as compared to ampicillin, the biogenic Ag NPs showed substantial antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli). It was found that Ag NPs had a free radical scavenging activity of 95.54%. With an anti-inflammatory activity of 85.78 ± 0.02% utilizing anti-proteinase action and 89.79 ± 0.02% using the BSA denaturation test, the Ag NPs demonstrated remarkable anti-inflammatory activity. The MTT assay of Ag NPs revealed their excellent cytotoxicity against MDA MB 231 with 23.506 ± 4.19% and an IC₅₀ value of 72.2 μg mL⁻¹.