In vitro biological assessment of green synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles using Anastatica hierochuntica (Rose of Jericho)

Nanoparticle production can be done easily, safely and without using any harmful chemicals. Due to the multiple biomedical applications of iron oxide nanoparticles, the current study uses plant extracts of Anastatica hierochuntica ( A. hierochuntica ) for the environmental friendly production of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs). UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were the methods utilized to investigate the formation of the iron oxide nanoparticles. In UV–visible analysis, absorption peaks of plant extracts of A. hierochuntica and biosynthesized IONPs were observed at 310 nm and 390 nm respectively. Functional groups such as alkenes, phosphate, carboxylic acid and hydroxyl groups were observed by the FT-IR study. The produced IONPs crystallinity was further confirmed by the XRD examination, and their average size was found to be 52 nm. SEM analysis revealed most of the formed nanoparticles were in spherical shape with 30–70-nm size. The presence of iron, oxygen, carbon and other elements was further confirmed in the EDAX spectrum. Five different bacteria Staphylococcus aureus , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Enterococcus faecalis , Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli were tested for the biosynthesized IONP antibacterial efficacy. With an inhibitory zone measuring 28.32 ± 1.5 in diameter, the generated IONPs exhibited considerable antibacterial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis . The percentage antioxidant activity of biosynthesized IONPs rises with an increasing concentration, and the highest activity of 36.79% was observed at the concentration of 100 µg/mL. In addition, the in vitro cytotoxicity studies against human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 showed that the cell viability of biosynthesized IONPs was hazardous to the MCF-7 cell line, with concentrations ranging between 7.8 and 1000 µg/mL, displaying the strongest and lowest anti-cancer activity, with IC50 value of 52.17%. The haemolytic activity of biosynthesized IONPs demonstrates that the rate of lysis steadily increased with increasing concentrations. At a high concentration of 1000 µg/mL, 24% of lysis and at a lower concentration of 31.25 µg/ mL, 2.2% lysis was observed. The iron oxide nanoparticles produced by this biogenic method will therefore have more varied uses in the biomedical industry with further clinical evaluation.