Biogeneration of silver nanoparticles from Cuphea procumbens for biomedical and environmental applications

Nanotechnology is one of the most important and relevant disciplines today due to the specific electrical, optical, magnetic, chemical, mechanical and biomedical properties of nanoparticles. In the present study we demonstrate the efficacy of Cuphea procumbens to biogenerate silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with antibacterial and antitumor activity. These nanoparticles were synthesized using the aqueous extract of C. procumbens as reducing agent and silver nitrate as oxidizing agent. The Transmission Electron Microscopy demonstrated that the biogenic AgNPs were predominantly quasi-spherical with an average particle size of 23.45 nm. The surface plasmonic resonance was analyzed by ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) observing a maximum absorption band at 441 nm and Infrared Spectroscopy (FT IR) was used in order to structurally identify the functional groups of some compounds involved in the formation of nanoparticles. The AgNPs demonstrated to have antibacterial activity against the pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, identifying the maximum zone of inhibition at the concentration of 0.225 and 0.158 mu g/mL respectively. Moreover, compared to the extract, AgNPs exhibited better antitumor activity and higher therapeutic index (TI) against several tumor cell lines such as human breast carcinoma MCF-7 (IC50 of 2.56 mu g/mL, TI of 27.65 mu g/mL), MDA-MB-468 (IC50 of 2.25 mu g/mL, TI of 31.53 mu g/mL), human colon carcinoma HCT-116 (IC50 of 1.38 mu g/mL, TI of 51.07 mu g/mL) and melanoma A-375 (IC50 of 6.51 mu g/mL, TI of 10.89 mu g/mL). This fact is of great since it will reduce the side effects derived from the treatment. In addition, AgNPs revealed to have a photocatalytic activity of the dyes congo red (10(-3) M) in 5 min and malachite green (10(-3) M) in 7 min. Additionally, the degradation percentages were obtained, which were 86.61% for congo red and 82.11% for malachite green. Overall, our results demonstrated for the first time that C. procumbens biogenerated nanoparticles are excellent candidates for several biomedical and environmental applications.

Automated summary

In this study, Cuphea procumbens was used to produce silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with antibacterial and antitumor activity. The biogenic AgNPs were quasi-spherical with an average size of 23.45 nm. The AgNPs showed antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, with maximum inhibition zones at concentrations of 0.225 and 0.158 mu g/mL, respectively. Additionally, the AgNPs exhibited better antitumor activity against various tumor cell lines and had photocatalytic activity for dye degradation. Overall, this research demonstrates that C. procumbens biogenerated nanoparticles have great potential for biomedical and environmental applications.