Anticancer efficacy of biogenic silver nanoparticles in vitro

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) are considered as one of the most common materials that are used for various types of biomedical applications, especially as anticancer agent. In our present work, Ag-NPs were successfully synthesized by using Artocarpus heterophyllus leaf extract as a source of reducing and stabilizing agents. The structural characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction technique and found that the synthesized Ag-NPs were face-centered cubic with an average crystallite size of 20 nm. The elemental nature of Ag and other biogenic components were further evidenced from the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis. The functional groups of the organic compounds that were responsible for reducing and capping agents and the presence of stabilizing agents on the surface of Ag-NPs were evidenced from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. The surface morphology of the biogenic Ag-NPs was monitored by using field emission scanning electron microscopy technique. The anticancer efficacy of the synthesized Ag-NPs was evaluated from the cell viability test considering two cell lines, HeLa cell which is a human carcinoma cell and Vero cell which is a normal cell. The results showed that the synthesized Ag-NPs exhibited more toxicity against carcinoma cell than normal cell indicating their potentiality as an anticancer material.