Study of antioxidant properties and toxicity of silver nanoparticles synthesized by aqueous extract of Rubia tinctorum on liver cancer cells(HepG2) compared to normal HDF cells

Abstract

Introduction: Nanotechnology and nanoparticles have significantly been considered for their potential in various fields including medicine and treatment. Silver nanoparticles are the most important nanoparticles that play an important role in treatment of cancer. Previous studies showed that silver nanoparticles have several properties such as antioxidants, anti-cancer and antibacterial. Therefore, in this study, the antioxidant properties of silver nanoparticles synthesized by Rubina tinctorum L (Ru-AgNPs) were investigated, using standard protocols. Subsequently, the cytotoxicity effects of the synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated on cancer cells (HepG2) compared to normal ones (HDF). Materials & Methods: In this study, the antioxidant effect of Ru-AgNPs was evaluated using ABTS and DPPH free radicals scavenging assay.  The MTT procedure was used to evaluate the cytotoxic properties of the nanoparticle against two cell lines examined 24 hours after exposure. Findings: The results showed that Ru-AgNPs was able to inhibit ABTS and DPPH free radicals depending on the concentration. The MTT results demonstrated that this nanoparticle can inhibit liver cancer cells in very low concentrations (IC50: 6µg/ml), but does not have an inhibitory effect in similar concentration on normal cells (IC50: 100µg/ml). Conclusion & Discussion: Our results show that Ru-AgNPs has an antioxidant effect and is able to inhibit the HepG2 cells in a low concentration too, but it does not have any toxic effects in a similar concentration on HDF cells, which makes this nanoparticle a suitable candidate for use in inhibiting cancerous cells.  

Keywords

• silver nanoparticles
• Rubia tinctorum plant
• antioxidant
• cytotoxic