Rapid bioreduction of trivalent aurum using banana stem powder and its cytotoxicity against MCF-7 and HEK-293 cell lines

Bioreduction of metal ions for the synthesis of nanoparticles of well-defined shape and size has been a great challenge in the field of nanotechnology. In this study, we explored the reduction potential of banana stem powder (BSP) for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNP). The kinetics of GNP synthesis was monitored using UV–Vis spectroscopy. The synthesized GNP was characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In addition, the cytotoxic potential of the synthesized GNP was investigated using human breast cancer (MCF-7) and normal human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cell lines, as evaluated by changes in cell morphology, cell viability (MTT), and metabolic activity. BSP exhibited a strong reduction of Au(III) to Au (0) at room temperature within 5 min of reaction time. The synthesized GNP was found to be spherical with an average diameter of 30 nm by DLS analysis. The cytotoxicity analysis reveals a direct dose–response relationship, indicating that the cytotoxicity increases with increasing concentrations of the GNP. Significant cytotoxicity was observed in cancer cells (MCF-7) compared to normal cells (HEK-293). Also the cellular uptake of GNP was more pronounced in MCF-7 cells than HEK-293 cells as evidenced by zeta potential, implicating the possible reason for differential cytotoxicity. Thus the present study demonstrates the importance of these unique, less time-consuming, and stable BSP-mediated GNP as potential drug delivery vehicles in the application of anticancer therapy.