Biosynthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles from Datura inoxia and its apoptotic effect on human breast cancer cell line MCF7 Babu Gajendran a , Arulvasu Chinnasamy a,n , Prabhu Durai a , Jegadeesh Raman b , Manikandan Ramar c a Department of Zoology, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600025, India b Mushroom Research Centre, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia c Department of Animal Health and Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi 630003, India article info Article history: Received 8 August 2013 Accepted 1 February 2014 Available online 8 February 2014 Keywords: Cytotoxicity Datura inoxia MCF7 abstract The present study demonstrates the efficacy of Datura inoxia for biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The aqueous extract obtained from the leaves of D. inoxia was mixed with AgNO 3 and incubated for the synthesis of AgNPs. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV–visible, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Trans- mission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The toxicity of AgNPs was evaluated using cell viability, nuclear fragmentation and cell cycle. Our results showed that biosynthesized AgNPs inhibited proliferation of human breast cancer cell line MCF7 with an IC 50 of 20 mg/ml at 24 h incubation. These results suggest that AgNPs may exert its antiproliferative effect on MCF7 cell line by suppressing its growth, arresting the cell cycle phases, reducing DNA synthesis and inducing apoptosis. & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years, nanoparticles and their uses are emerging as a critical technology with applications in many industrial sectors [1]. Due to their specific electrical, optical, magnetic, chemical and mechanical properties nanoparticles are currently used in many high technology areas, such as the medical sector for diagnosis, antimicrobial, drug delivery [2], environmental protection [3] and energy conversion [4]. Nanoparticle synthesis is usually carried out by various physical and chemical methods such as Laser ablation, Pyrolysis, Chemical or physical Vapor Deposition, Sol–Gel and Lithography electro- deposition and most of them are expensive and/or require the use of toxic solvents [5]. Recently, great efforts have been made to use eco-friendly methods for the synthesis of noble metal nanoparti- cles [6] and these are achieved mostly by the use of plant or fruit extracts [7]. These green methods are of low cost, fast, efficient and generally lead to the formation of crystalline nanoparticles with variety of sizes. This depends on the nature and concentra- tion of plant extract. Furthermore, it also depends on their pH, temperature and incubation time of synthesis reaction [8]. In this paper, we present an eco-friendly, one step, ultra-fast and easy synthesis of nanoparticles which are stable, reliable and cost-effective than other conventional methods [9]. D. inoxia is a well-known Indian medicinal plant which belongs to the family of Solanaceae [10]. In a recent study, the cytotoxic activity of D. inoxia was reported against human colon adenocarcinoma and larynx cancer cell lines [11]. We investigated the green synthesis of AgNPs using aqueous extract from leaves of D. inoxia and its antiproliferative effect was explored against MCF7 cell line. 2. Experimental procedure Preparation of aqueous extract from leaves of D. inoxia: D. inoxia was collected from Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, India. 5 g of thoroughly washed leaves were finely cut, placed in a 500 ml flask containing 100 ml of distilled water which was boiled for 15 min and decanted. The extract was filtered and stored at 4 °C for further use. Synthesis of silver nanoparticles: Fresh extract was used for the reduction of Ag þ ions to Ag1, wherein 5 ml of extract was added to 95 ml aqueous silver nitrate (1 mM) solution and incubated at 37 1C for 60 min. The bio-reduced AgNPs were analyzed using UV–visible spectroscopy. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matlet Materials Letters http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2014.02.003 0167-577X & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. Tel.: þ91 44 22202836. E-mail address: carulvasu@gmail.com (A. Chinnasamy). Materials Letters 122 (2014) 98–102