Fabrication, Characterization and In Vitro Cell Cytotoxicity of ZnO Nanoparticles on MDA-MB 231 Breast Cancer Cell Line

The intention of this study was to prepare zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) via bottom-up approach and evaluate their physiochemical, antimicrobial and anticancer properties. ZnO-NPs were first prepared by the direct precipitation method with zinc sulphate heptahydrate, followed by characterization tests using sophisticated analytical and imaging instruments. Upon characterization, ZnO-NPs were studied for their antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as their anticancer activity against breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB 231). The ZnO-NPs possessed a mean particle diameter of 225.2 nm and a zeta potential of -15.8 mV. A sharp absorption peak of ZnO was recorded at 354 nm via UV-Visible spectroscopy. Hexagonal wurtzite shape of ZnO-NPs has been observed and confirmed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD). ZnO-NPs exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus. In an in vitro cell cytotoxicity study, ZnO-NPs showed a dose-dependent relationship against MDA-MB 231 breast cancer cells. It was observed that as the concentration of ZnO-NPs increased (0.25 mu g to 35 mu g), there was a sharp reduction in the proliferation rate of the cancer cell line. Overall, our study reported successful synthesis of ZnO-NPs, which can be efficient antibacterial and anticancer agents.