Enhanced anti-cancer potency of sustainably synthesized anisotropic silver nanoparticles as compared with L-asparaginase.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a hematologic cancer that involves the production of abnormal lymphoid precursor cells, primarily affects children aged 2 to 10 years. The bacterial enzyme L-asparaginase produced from Escherichia coli is utilised as first-line therapy, despite the fact that 30 % of patients have a treatment-limiting hypersensitivity reaction. The current study elucidates the biosynthesis of extremely stable, water-dispersible, anisotropic silver nanoparticles (ANI Ag NPs) at room temperature and investigation of its anti-tumor potency in comparison to L-asparaginase. The optical, morphological, compositional, and structural properties of synthesized nanoparticles were evaluated using UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and X-ray Diffractometer. The UV-Vis-NIR spectra revealed the typical Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) at 423 nm along with additional NIR absorption at 962 nm and 1153 nm, while TEM images show different shapes and sizes of Ag nanoparticles ranging from 6.81 nm to 46 nm, together confirming their anisotropic nature. Further, the MTT assay demonstrated promising anticancer effects of ANI Ag NPs with an IC50 value of ∼7 µg/mL against HuT-78 cells. These sustainable anisotropic silver nanoparticles exhibited approximately four times better cytotoxic ability (at and above 10 µg/mL concentrations) than L-asparaginase against HuT-78 cells (a human T lymphoma cell line). Apoptosis analysis by Wright-Geimsa, Annexin-V, and DAPI staining indicated the role of apoptosis in ANI Ag NPs-mediated cell death. The measurement of NO, and Bcl2 and cleaved caspase-3 levels by colorimetric method and immunoblotting, respectively suggested their involvement in ANI Ag NPs-elicited apoptosis. The findings indicate that the biogenic approach proposed herein holds tremendous promise for the rapid and straightforward design of novel multifunctional nanoparticles for the treatment of T cell malignancies.

Mycosynthesis of highly fluorescent selenium nanoparticles from Fusarium oxysporum, their antifungal activity against black fungus Aspergillus niger, and in-vivo biodistribution studies.

In the past few years, photo-luminescent inorganic materials have been studied extensively as fluorescent sensors, and diagnostic and bioimaging tools. The assessment of photoluminescence (PL) properties of selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs), especially mycosynthesized Se NPs, is still in its infancy. Herein, we have biosynthesized highly dispersed fluorescent Se NPs (42 nm) using endophytic fungus Fusarium oxysporum, and fully characterized them using sophisticated instruments like TEM, XRD, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, FTIR, and PL spectrometer. To determine the therapeutic efficacy and side effect profiles, these crystalline Se NPs were radiolabeled with technetium-99m (99mTc) and their biodistribution and renal clearance times were investigated in the normal Wister rat. The results showed that these Se NPs may be useful for targeting the lungs and liver dysfunction as significant accumulation of these NPs was observed in the liver (approx. 19.47 ± 4%) and lungs (at 6 ± 1%) after 10 min of post-injection. Quick circulation and the presence of Se NPs in kidney (3.8 ± 2%) also suggested the easy excretion of these NPs from the body through urinary tract. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of Se NPs (IC50, 159.5 µg/mL) has been investigated using DPPH free radical scavenging assay with scavenging efficacy of 80.4% where ascorbic acid (IC50, 5.6 µg/mL) was used as a positive control. Additionally, the microscopic study of the inhibition zone encircled around Se NPs confirmed their strong antifungal and antisporulant activity against the black fungus Aspergillus niger.

Application of mycogenic silver/silver oxide nanoparticles in electrochemical glucose sensing; alongside their catalytic and antimicrobial activity.

The present work describes the biofabrication of highly stable, water-dispersible mycogenic silver/silver (I) oxide nanoparticles (Ag/Ag2O NPs) alongside its potential applications in non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensing and catalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in presence of reducing agent NaBH4. These Ag/Ag2O NPs were fabricated from silver oxide micro powder using endophytic fungus Fusarium oxysporum based environmentally friendly, bio-inspired, top-down approach which is highly reproducible, reliable, and cheap. Bacterial and plant-mediated bottom-up approaches have been previously reported for the production of Ag/Ag2O NPs. Bacterial methods are not economical as they require expensive sophisticated instruments for separation and purification. Similarly, plant-based means of synthesis are not reliable and reproducible due to geographical and seasonal variability's. UV-Visible spectroscopy, TEM, SAED, FTIR, XRD, TGA, and DSC were used for the characterization and investigation of thermal properties of mycogenic nanoparticles and their antimicrobial activity was evaluated by filter- paper bioassay technique.