Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticle using extract of Zea mays (corn flour) and investigation of its cytotoxicity effect and radical scavenging potential

Abstract Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) possesses a number of exceptional pharmaceutical properties and applications as compared with other types of metallic nanoparticles. Currently, AgNPs was biosynthesized using an aqueous extract of Zea mays L. (corn flour) powder. Further, the effect of concentration of reagents, extract, temperature and time of synthesis was also studied along with the cytotoxicity and radical scavenging potential. UV–vis spectra of AgNPs gave a surface plasmon resonance at ~420 nm. The absorption peak became sharp with the increase in time. AgNPs with monodispersed and aggregated spherical shape was observed by SEM image followed by its confirmation via strong signal in silver region of EDX spectrum. The XRD spectra confirmed its crystallinity and face-centered cubic structure. FT-IR spectra reveal the presence of phytocompounds in the synthesis of AgNPs. Further, the AgNPs exhibited strong cytotoxicity potential against HepG2 cells and its viability declined with an increase in the concentration of AgNP with respect to the control cells. It also demonstrated reasonable radical scavenging potential in terms of DPPH and ABTS scavenging, and reducing power tests. Taken together, these results of the current investigation stated that AgNPs could be beneficial in biomedical applications particularly for treatment of cancer disease along with its applications in pharmaceutical industries for the formulation of new drugs.