Putative anti-proliferative effect of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) seed and its nano-formulation

Over the past few decades, nanotechnology has shown promising prospects in biomedicine and has a proven impact on enhancing therapeutics by facilitating drug delivery. The present study brings an amalgamation of nanoscience and clean technology by fabricating nature-friendly nanoparticles (NPs) sans the use of chemical surfactants using Indian mustard seed, Brassica juncea L. The as-synthesized NPs were characterized to assess their average size, crystallinity, morphology, and constituent functional groups through conventional techniques: dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The NPs were crystalline in nature and exhibited a mean size of 205.5 nm (PDI of 0.437) being primarily polygonal in shape. Additionally, the therapeutic efficacy of the green NPs was evaluated based on their cytotoxic effect against two human cancer lines, MCF-7 and HepG-2. Both the NPs and the bulk seeds showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect. However, an assessment of the antiproliferative/cytotoxic potential of the green NPs versus the bulk seeds showed that the NPs were relatively more efficacious on both cell lines. Taken together, the mustard seed NPs could be potential nutraceuticals considering the green credential in their mode of biosynthesis.

Automated summary

In recent decades, nanotechnology has shown promising prospects in biomedicine and has been proven to enhance therapeutics by facilitating drug delivery. This study combines nanoscience with clean technology by fabricating nature-friendly nanoparticles using Indian mustard seeds. The nanoparticles were characterized through various techniques and were found to be crystalline in nature with an average size of 205.5 nm. The therapeutic efficacy of the green nanoparticles was evaluated on human cancer cell lines and was found to be more effective than the bulk seeds. Overall, these mustard seed nanoparticles have potential nutraceutical properties due to their green synthesis.