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. 2017 Jun;11(4):370-376.
doi: 10.1049/iet-nbt.2016.0103.

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Mentha pulegium and investigation of their antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer activity

Ali Hamad Abd Kelkawi  1 , Abolghasem Abbasi Kajani  2 , Abdol-Khalegh Bordbar  3
Affiliations

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Mentha pulegium and investigation of their antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer activity

Ali Hamad Abd Kelkawi et al. IET Nanobiotechnol. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

A simple and eco-friendly method for efficient synthesis of stable colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Mentha pulegium extracts is described. A series of reactions was conducted using different types and concentrations of plant extract as well as metal ions to optimize the reaction conditions. AgNPs were characterized by using UV-vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, zetasizer, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). At the optimized conditions, plate shaped AgNPs with zeta potential value of -15.7 and plasmon absorption maximum at 450 nm were obtained using high concentration of aqueous extract. Efficient adsorption of organic compounds on the nanoparticles was confirmed by FTIR and EDAX. The biogenic AgNPs displayed promising antibacterial activity on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes. The highest antibacterial activity of 25 µg mL-1 was obtained for all the strains using aqueous extract synthesized AgNPs. The aqueous extract synthesised AgNPs also showed considerable antifungal activity against fluconazole resistant Candida albicans. The cytotoxicity assay revealed considerable anticancer activity of AgNPs on HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells. Overall results indicated high potential of M. pulegium extract to synthesis high quality AgNPs for biomedical applications.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Time‐dependent UV–vis spectroscopy of AgNPs synthesised by using high concentration of aqueous (left) and methanolic (right) extracts of M. pulegium
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
TEM images of AgNPs synthesised using aqueous (left) and methanolic (right) extract of M. pulegium. Corresponding AFM images are shown as inset
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
EDAX spectra of AgNPs synthesised using M. pulegium extract (left) and FTIR spectra (right) of dried powder of M. pulegium leaves (curve 1); AgNPs synthesised using methanolic (curve 2), aqueous (curve 3) and ethanolic extract of M. pulegium (curve 4)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Morphology changes of MCF‐7 (top) and HeLa (bottom) cancer cells after treatment with AgNPs synthesised using aqueous extract of M. pulegium. The control and treated cells have been shown in the left and right, respectively
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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