Abstract
Here, we present the synthesis of rod-shaped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) through the wet-chemical method and green synthesis method (using Azadirachta indica leaf extract). Physicochemical properties of the ZnO NPs are characterized using different techniques, and their rod shape structure is confirmed via scanning electron microscope (SEM). Biological effects of the rod-shaped ZnO NPs in human lung (A549) cancer cells are evaluated, which include: viability, apoptosis/cell death, and morphological impact. It has been observed that ZnO NPs synthesized via the green method (marked as L2-NPs) have significantly decreased viability of A549 cells, as compared to NPs synthesized via the wet-chemical method (marked as ZnNPs), ascribed to the presence of therapeutic biomolecules (including polyphenols) in leaf extracts as capping agents. It has also been witnessed that the viability of A549 cells can be significantly reduced in a dose-dependent manner with L2-NPs as well as with only extract of leaf of Azadirachta indica, an IC50 value of 130.95 μg/mL is obtained. Treatment of A549 cells via L2-NPs has effectively (i) improved apoptotic induction post-incubation and (ii) arrested cell cycles in different phases, where a high cell cycle arrest percentage of 83.1% is obtained in the G1-phase itself. Thus, rod-shaped ZnO NPs synthesized via Azadirachta indica leaf extracts have proven to be a potential therapeutic candidate for lung cancer treatment.
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Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Principal, Miranda House, University of Delhi for providing a lab facility to carry out this research work. D. M. would like to thank the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) for providing all the supports. The authors wish to thank the University Scientific Instrumentation Center (USIC), University of Delhi, India for providing SEM, EDS, and PXRD facilities. We also deeply acknowledge to Department of Biotechnology (DBT), New Delhi, India for providing funds under the INDO-US FOLDSCOPE scheme (Sanction order No. BT/IN/Indo/Foldscope/39/2015 dated: 20.03.2018). Recently, our research article has been published on In Vitro study of green synthesized ZnO nanoparticles on human lung cancer cell lines. We have synthesized ZnO NPs with 1, 2, 5, and 10 mL of leaf extract of Azadirachta indica (Neem tree). Published data in Materials Today Proceedings are related to ZnO NPs synthesized with 1mL of leaf extract of Azadirachta indica. We have performed the anticancer activity of these synthesized ZnO NPs on the same lung cancer cell lines (A549). Our plan of research is to investigate how the synthesized ZnO with different amounts of leaf extract affects the anticancer activity (IC50 value). IC50 value for lung cancer cell lines with ZnO NPs synthesized with 1mL of leaf extract of Azadirachta indica (L1-NPs) is found to be 138.50 μg/mL after 48 h incubation. Whereas, IC50 value for L2-NPs is found to be 130.95 μg/mL after 48 h incubation. We have unpublished data regarding ZnO NPs synthesized with 5 and 10 mL leaf extract. We have taken the same set of parameters of study on the same cancer cell line for comparison purposes. So, already published data and sent data for publication are not the same (as mentioned in Sect. 3.5 & 3.7).
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Rani, N., Rawat, K., Saini, M. et al. Rod-shaped ZnO nanoparticles: synthesis, comparison and in vitro evaluation of their apoptotic activity in lung cancer cells. Chem. Pap. 76, 1225–1238 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01942-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01942-y