Green synthesis of copper nanoparticles using Cinnamomum zelanicum extract and its applications as a highly efficient antioxidant and anti-human lung carcinoma

Abstract

Cinnamomum zelanicum is one of the popular medicinal plants. The plant has many pharmaceutical uses in traditional medicine. In this study, copper nanoparticles were synthesized using the aqueous extract of Cinnamomum zelanicum. The CuNPs were characterized using different techniques such as EDX, FE-SEM, XRD, and FT-IR. The FE-SEM results confirm spherical morphology for the nanoparticles with size of 19.55 to 69.70 nm. For investigating the antioxidant property of CuNPs, the DPPH test was used in the presence of butylated hydroxytoluene as the positive control. To survey the cytotoxicity and anti-human lung carcinoma effects of CuNPs, MTT assay was used on the NCI-H2126, NCI-H1437, NCI-H1573, and NCI-H661 cell lines. DPPH test revealed similar antioxidant potentials for Cinnamomum zelanicum aqueous extract, CuNPs, and butylated hydroxytoluene. Copper nanoparticles had very low cell viability and anti-lung carcinoma properties dose-dependently against NCI-H2126, NCI-H1437, NCI-H1573, and NCI-H66 cell lines without any cytotoxicity on the normal cell line. The best result of anti-lung carcinoma properties of CuNPs against the above cell lines was seen in the case of the NCI-H2126 cell line. According to the above findings, the copper nanoparticles containing Cinnamomum zelanicum can be administrated in humans for the treatment of several types of lung carcinoma.

Keywords

• cinnamomum zelanicum leaf
• copper nanoparticles
• human lung carcinoma.