Rumex nervosus mediated green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and evaluation of its in vitro antibacterial, and cytotoxic activity
Ansam Wadia Alshameri, Mohammad Owais, Ishrat Altaf, Saba Farheen
Abstract
In the present study, we have reported the low-cost, green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Rumex nervosus (Rn) leaf extract. The biological synthesis of Rn-AgNPs employing plant extracts has become an optimistic substitute for the conventional chemical method of synthesis. Initially, the synthesis of Rn-AgNPs was explained by the optical study of the color change in the mixture. The biosynthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, FTIR analysis, EDX, zeta potential, and DLS. TEM revealed that most of the Rn-AgNPs are spherical/oblong in shape with the average particle size falling in the range of 20-70 nm. The green synthesized Rn-AgNPs showed potent antibacterial and antibiofilm activity against the gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. The cytotoxicity assays of as-formed AgNPs exhibited minimal toxicity to human RBCs and PBMCs. Hence, these nanoparticles are considered non-toxic for use as drugs in biomedicine.