Biosynthesis of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: Physico-Chemical Characterization and Their In Vitro Cytotoxicity on Healthy and Tumorigenic Cell Lines.
Elena-Alina MoacăClaudia-Geanina WatzDaniela Flondor IonescuCornelia PăcurariuLucian Barbu TudoranRobert IanoșVlad-Mircea SocoliucGeorge-Andrei DrăghiciAndrada IftodeSergio LigaDan DragoșCristina Adriana DeheleanPublished in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) (2022)
Iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized starting from two aqueous extracts based on Artemisia absinthium L. leaf and stems, employing a simplest, eco-friendliness and low toxicity method-green synthesis. The nanoparticles were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), thermal analysis (TG/DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Lack of magnetic properties and the reddish-brown color of all the samples confirms the presence of hematite as majority phase. The FTIR bands located at 435 cm -1 and 590 cm -1 , are assigned to Fe-O stretching vibration from hematite, confirming the formation of α-Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles (NPs). The in vitro screening of the samples revealed that the healthy cell line (HaCaT) presents a good viability (above 80%) after exposure to iron oxide NPs and lack of apoptotic features, while the tumorigenic cell lines manifested a higher sensitivity, especially the melanoma cells (A375) when exposed to concentration of 500 µg/mL iron oxide NPs for 72 h. Moreover, A375 cells elicited significant apoptotic markers under these parameters (concentration of 500 µg/mL iron oxide NPs for a contact time of 72 h).