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. 2022 Oct 28;15(11):1334.
doi: 10.3390/ph15111334.

Comparative Cytotoxic Evaluation of Zygophyllum album Root and Aerial Parts of Different Extracts and Their Biosynthesized Silver Nanoparticles on Lung A549 and Prostate PC-3 Cancer Cell Lines

Reda F A Abdelhameed  1   2 , Mohamed S Nafie  3 , Dina M Hal  2 , Ali M Nasr  4   5 , Shady A Swidan  6   7 , Maged S Abdel-Kader  8   9 , Amany K Ibrahim  2 , Safwat A Ahmed  2 , Jihan M Badr  2 , Enas E Eltamany  2
Affiliations

Comparative Cytotoxic Evaluation of Zygophyllum album Root and Aerial Parts of Different Extracts and Their Biosynthesized Silver Nanoparticles on Lung A549 and Prostate PC-3 Cancer Cell Lines

Reda F A Abdelhameed et al. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). .

Abstract

The current work demonstrates a comparative study between aerial and root parts of Zygophyllum album L. The total phenolic (TPC) and flavonoid content (TFC), in addition to the antioxidant activity, of the crude extracts were investigated, where the aerial parts revealed a higher value overall. By means of UV-VIS and HPLC, rutin and caffeic acid were detected and then quantified as 5.91 and 0.97 mg/g of the plant extract, respectively. Moreover, the biosynthesis of AgNPs utilizing the crude extract of the arial parts and root of Z. album L. and the phenolic extracts was achieved in an attempt to enhance the cytotoxicity of the different plant extracts. The prepared AgNPs formulations were characterized by TEM and zeta potential measurements, which revealed that all of the formulated AgNPs were of a small particle diameter and were highly stable. The mean hydrodynamic particle size ranged from 67.11 to 80.04 nm, while the zeta potential ranged from 29.1 to 38.6 mV. Upon biosynthesis of the AgNPs using the extracts, the cytotoxicity of the tested samples was improved, so the polyphenolics AgNPs of the aerial parts exhibited a potent cytotoxicity against lung A549 and prostate PC-3 cancer cells with IC50 values of 6.1 and 4.36 µg/mL, respectively, compared with Doxorubicin (IC50 values of 6.19 and 5.13 µg/mL, respectively). Regarding the apoptotic activity, polyphenolics AgNPs of the aerial parts induced apoptotic cell death by 4.2-fold in PC-3 and 4.7-fold in A549 cells compared with the untreated control. The mechanism of apoptosis in both cancerous cells appeared to be via the upregulation proapoptotic genes; p53, Bax, caspase 3, 8, and 9, and the downregulation of antiapoptotic gene, Bcl-2. Hence, this formula may serve as a good source for anticancer agents against PC-3 and A549 cells.

Keywords: AgNPs; HPLC; PC-3 and A549 cancer cells; TEM; UV–VIS; Zygophyllum album; antioxidant; apoptosis; cytotoxicity; total phenolic and flavonoids.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
UV–VIS absorbing spectrograms of caffeic acid (a) and rutin (b).
Figure 2
Figure 2
HPLC chromatogram of reference standards detected at λ 280 nm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
HPLC chromatogram of the methanolic extract of Z. album L. (100 mg/mL) detected at λ 280 nm.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Transmission electron microscope images for AgNPs of (a) crude extract of aerial parts, (b) crude extract of root, (c) phenolic extract of the aerial parts, and (d) phenolic extract of the root of Z. album L.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Particle size and particle size distribution of AgNPs of (a) crude extract of aerial parts, (b) crude extract of root, (c) phenolic extract of the aerial parts, and (d) phenolic extract of the root of Z. album L.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Zeta potential of AgNPs of (a) crude extract of aerial parts, (b) crude extract of root, (c) phenolic extract of the aerial parts, and (d) phenolic extract of the root of Z. album L.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Percentage of cell viability vs. log [con. µg/mL], R square ≈ 1 using the GraphPad prism software. (a) Cytotoxicity of the AgNPs formula of polyphenolics aerial extract against A549 cells. (b) Cytotoxicity of the AgNPs formula of the polyphenolics aerial extract against PC-3 cells using an MTT assay.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Cytograms and bar representation for apoptosis-necrosis assessment using flow cytometry. (a) Annexin V/PI staining of untreated and treated PC-3 cancer cells with the AgNPs formula of the polyphenolics portion of the aerial parts (IC50 = 4.36 µg/mL, 48 h). (b) Annexin V/PI staining of untreated and treated A549 cancer cells with the AgNPs formula of the polyphenolics portion of the aerial parts (IC50 = 6.1 µg/mL, 48 h). Q1: Necrosis, Q2: Late apoptosis, Q4: Early apoptosis. Lower panel. * (p ≤ 0.05) and ** (p ≤ 0.001) significantly different using the unpaired test in GraphPad prism.
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