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Over the past few decades, nanotechnology has shown promising prospects in biomedicine and has a proven impact on enhancing therapeutics by facilitating drug delivery. The present study brings an amalgamation of nanoscience and “clean technology” by fabricating nature-friendly nanoparticles (NPs) sans the use of chemical surfactants using Indian mustard seed, Brassica juncea L. The as-synthesized NPs were characterized to assess their average size, crystallinity, morphology, and constituent functional groups through conventional techniques: dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The NPs were crystalline in nature and exhibited a mean size of 205.5 nm (PDI of 0.437) being primarily polygonal in shape. Additionally, the therapeutic efficacy of the green NPs was evaluated based on their cytotoxic effect against two human cancer lines, MCF-7 and HepG-2. Both the NPs and the bulk seeds showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect. However, an assessment of the antiproliferative/cytotoxic potential of the green NPs versus the bulk seeds showed that the NPs were relatively more efficacious on both cell lines. Taken together, the mustard seed NPs could be potential nutraceuticals considering the green credential in their mode of biosynthesis.

The study assessed the antidiabetic effect of Solenostemma argel and its nanoformulations with silver/gold nanocomposites (CNPs), zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs), and metaformin drug. Experimental groups consisted of normal control, diabetic control, and four diabetic groups treated with metformin, CNPs, ZnONPs, and bulk argel leaf extract (So-argel). Transmission electron microscopy characterization showed that the synthesized CNPs and ZnONPs were of variable sizes and dimensions and were quasi-spherical in shape. Particle sizes measured by dynamic light scattering were 106 and 139 nm for CNPs and ZnONPs, respectively. Also, the polydispersity index values were 0.473 and 0.269 for CNPs and ZnONPs, respectively. The biochemical parameters were as follows: the group treated with bulk So-argel (105.00 ± 4.041 mg·dL−1) and CNPs (109.00 ± 8.373 mg·dL−1) showed a more profound anti-hyperglycemic effect and were comparable to the control (88.40 ± 2.249). Liver and kidney functions (p ≤ 0.05) improved with So-argel and its nanoformulations compared to metformin. However, bulk argel (170.33 ± 20.431 and 38.00 ± 3.05 U·L−1) and the nanocomposite (228.33 ± 11.464 and 48.00 ± 5.291 U·L−1) were efficacious in lowering serum levels of liver enzymes (AST and ALT, respectively). No significant difference was observed between urea levels. Nevertheless, bulk So-argel (0.26 ± 0.007) and CNPs (0.24 ± 0.018) were more effective than ZnONPs (0.41 ± 0.289) on serum creatinine. Nanotreatment exhibited a reduction in lesions size/healing. Overall, nanoparticles may offer a safe potential for Type 2 diabetes management.

Effect of naringenin and its nanoparticles on Cd-induced toxicity in Nile tilapia.