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Characterization and evaluation of cytotoxic effect, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of zinc oxide nanoparticles derived from Justicia adhatoda

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Abstract

The current study describes a green synthesis method for preparing zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) using Justicia adhatoda to investigate the different pathogen and toxic assays. Synthesized nanoparticles are hexagonal and 40 nm in size. The antifungal activity of ZnO-NPs was analyzed against three strains: Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, and Aspergillus niger. The antimicrobial activity of ZnO-NPs as tested against Bacillus, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The ZnO-NPs produced exhibited significant free radical scavenging effects of 200 µg/mL-73.12%. ZnO-NPs were evaluated against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells at an LD50 concentration of 50 µg/mL. The results showed that biosynthesized ZnO-NPs have efficient inhibitory activity against fungal and bacterial strains and cytotoxicity against human MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines.

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Correspondence to P. Senthil Kumar.

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Rajeshkumar, S., Santhoshkumar, J., Kumar, P.S. et al. Characterization and evaluation of cytotoxic effect, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of zinc oxide nanoparticles derived from Justicia adhatoda. Appl Nanosci 13, 3993–4004 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-022-02670-9

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