facile biosynthesis of gold nanostructures using aqueous extracts of scutellaria multicaulis and heracleum persicum stems and h. persicum fruits, and their cytotoxicity against breast cancer cells

Background: the introduction of highly specific drug nanoparticles (nps) into cancer cells has demonstrated a broad therapeutic potential with diminished toxicity. hence, the synthesis of nanoparticles has garnered significant interest among researchers. objectives: this study presents an eco-friendly method for synthesizing gold nps (aunps) using scutellaria multicaulis and heracleum persicum stem extracts, sanguisorba officinalis root, and h. persicum fruit extracts, and evaluates their anticancer effects. methods: the characterization of aunps was studied using uv–visible, field emission scanning electron microscopy (fesem), energy dispersive x-ray (edx) spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction (xrd), dynamic light-scattering (dls), zeta potential (zp), and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ftir). total phenolic content (tpc) and total flavonoid content (tfc) of aunps were evaluated using colorimetric analysis. mtt (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and apoptosis assays were used to assay their cytotoxic potential. results: the absorption peaks were between 535 and 545 nm. fe-sem and edx analyses revealed that the aunps were oval in shape with a crystal size of 10-30 nm. xrd data showed the crystal structures of aunps to be 7.41, 7.61, 7.61, and 7.84 nm for stems of s. multicaulis (sm-s)-aunps, stems of h. persicum (hp-s)-aunps, roots of s. officinalis (so-r)-aunps, and fruits of h. persicum (hp-f)-aunps, respectively. ft-ir suggested that elements such as phenolics, aromatic compounds, and proteins played a role in the reduction and stabilization of aunps. the mean size of aunps was ascertained using a zetasizer, with measurements of 60.46, 41.2, 51, and 50.27 nm for sm-s-aunps, hp-s-aunps, so-r-aunps, and hp-f-aunps, respectively. zp analysis showed that aunps are negatively charged, indicating good dispersion stability. aunps had a high content of phenolic and flavonoid compounds and exhibited strong inhibitory effects on mda-mb231 cell proliferation. sm-s-aunps demonstrated anticancer effects in vitro by inducing oxidative stress and apoptosis.conclusion: overall, the results affirm the potential of the examined plant extract as a viable raw biomaterial for the synthesis of biologically active aunps. these could be instrumental in developing novel antitumor agents to combat breast cancer.