In-vitro anticancer on acute lymphoblastic leukemia NALM-6 cell line, antibacterial and catalytic performance of eco-friendly synthesized ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles using Hedera colchica extract

In recent years, metal oxide nanoparticles synthesized using environmentally friendly and inexpensive methods have attracted attention due to their potential applications in the fields of medicine, catalysts, ceramics drugs, and optics. Therefore, this research reports the biosynthesis of the pure ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles using Hedera colchica (H. colchica) extract (ZnO/Ag@HC NPs) and using them for antibacterial, anticancer, and catalytic activities. The green synthesized ZnO/Ag@HC NPs were characterized using various techniques, including HPLC, UV–Vis, DLS, TEM, EDS, FTIR DRS, BET, FESEM, and XRD. ZnO/Ag@HC NPs were observed to have spherical and oval-like morphologies in the FESEM and TEM analysis images, with an average particle size of 30–40 nm. Penicillin G (PNG) as the model pollution was examined to assess the photocatalytic activity of the biosynthesized nanoparticles. The influence of critical parameters such as nanocatalyst dosage, pH and light source were investigated to achieve the optimum degradation of penicillin G. The results revealed that ZnO/Ag@HC NPs exhibited a higher photocatalytic performance (98.4%) than pure ZnO NPs in the degradation of the penicillin G antibiotic (87.5%). Furthermore, the antibacterial performance of ZnO/Ag@HC NPs was investigated against eight strains. The highest antibacterial activity was observed against A. baumannii, S. aureus, and E. faecalis with MIC values of 0.44 μg/ml. The anticancer activity of ZnO/Ag@HC NPs and pure ZnO NPs was conducted on acute lymphoblastic leukemia NALM-6 and normal fibroblast cells using the MTT assay at various concentrations (6.25–1000 µg/ml). The results of pure ZnO NPs and ZnO/Ag@HC-treated NALM-6 cells showed IC50 values of 50 and 25 μg/ml, respectively. These findings suggest the suitability of ZnO/Ag@HC NPs for antibiotic degradation, antibacterial and anticancer drug development.