Cytotoxicity of Ag, Au and Ag-Au bimetallic nanoparticles prepared using golden rod (Solidago canadensis) plant extract

Abstract

Production and use of metallic nanoparticles have increased dramatically over the past few years and design of nanomaterials has been developed to minimize their toxic potencies. Traditional chemical methods of production are potentially harmful to the environment and greener methods for synthesis are being developed in order to address this. Thus far phytosynthesis have been found to yield nanomaterials of lesser toxicities, compared to materials synthesized by use of chemical methods. In this study nanoparticles were synthesized from an extract of leaves of golden rod (Solidago canadensis). Silver (Ag), gold (Au) and Ag-Au bimetallic nanoparticles (BNPs), synthesized by use of this “green” method, were evaluated for cytotoxic potency. Cytotoxicity of nanomaterials to H4IIE-luc (rat hepatoma) cells and HuTu-80 (human intestinal) cells were determined by use of the xCELLigence real time cell analyzer. Greatest concentrations (50 µg/mL) of Ag and Ag-Au bimetallic were toxic to both H4IIE-luc and HuTu-80 cells but Au nanoparticles were not toxic. BNPs exhibited the greatest toxic potency to these two types of cells and since AuNPs caused no toxicity; the Au functional portion of the bimetallic material could be assisting in uptake of particles across the cell membrane thereby increasing the toxicity.

Silver Nanoparticles at Biocompatible Dosage Synergistically Increases Bacterial Susceptibility to Antibiotics

“…As AgNPs are among the most widely used nanomaterial in consumer products, increased use in the food industry has led to public concern regarding their safety and toxicity with long-term use (Chen and Schluesener, 2008;Wijnhoven et al, 2009). Unfortunately, AgNPs can act like a double-edged sword, i.e., they can eliminate bacteria but have also been shown to induce cellular cytotoxicity; in vitro cell culture studies have shown toxic effects of AgNPs in a number of human cell lines (Shi et al, 2018;Botha et al, 2019;Liao et al, 2019). Similarly, in vivo animal studies in rodents have also shown toxic effects of AgNPs due to their accumulation in the liver, spleen, and lung (Alessandrini et al, 2017;Vidanapathirana et al, 2018).…”

“…If cytotoxicity was assessed, the studies were usually short-term (<5 days), (Panacek et al, 2016;Punjabi et al, 2018) in duration unable to show longer-term cytotoxic effects. Robust data on enhancing antibiotic potential in conjunction with biocompatible doses of AgNPs (Botha et al, 2019) is therefore lacking.…”

Synthesis of Au, Ag, and Au–Ag Bimetallic Nanoparticles Using Pulicaria undulata Extract and Their Catalytic Activity for the Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol

“…Although these NPs are biocompatible and widely used in different biological applications, there is still demand for the development of other methods that are low cost and easily scalable. In this contribution, the use of plant extracts, being renewable, easy to grow on a mass scale, and environmentally benign, have caught the attention of the researchers [ 14 , 15 , 16 ]. These renewable bio-resources have some advantages, as they minimize the use of surfactants and allow the replacement of organic solvents by water.…”

A Review on Synthesis, Applications, Toxicity, Risk Assessment and Limitations of Plant Extracts Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles

“…Effect of AgNPs against wide range of cancer cell lines was extensively reported. Death of cancer cells was caused by cytotoxic [120], anti-proliferative [41,117], anti-metastatic [121] and apoptotic [122] mechanisms. AgNPs of smaller sizes can freely penetrate into the cells through easy diffusion or pass through receptors, ion channels and transporters across the membrane.…”