Synthesis and Characterization of Chemically and Green-Synthesized Silver Oxide Particles for Evaluation of Antiviral and Anticancer Activity.

Silver oxide (Ag 2 O) particles are wonderful candidates due to their unique properties, and their use in a wide range of research, industrial and biomedical applications is rapidly increasing. This makes it fundamental to develop simple, environmentally friendly methods with possible scaling. Herein, sodium borohydride and Datura innoxia leaf extract were applied as chemical and biological stabilizing and reducing agents to develop Ag 2 O particles. The primary aim was to evaluate the anticancer and antiviral activity of Ag 2 O particles prepared via two methods. XRD, UV-visible and SEM analyses were used to examine the crystallite structure, optical properties and morphology, respectively. The resulting green-synthesized Ag 2 O particles exhibited small size, spherically agglomerated shape, and high anticancer and antiviral activities compared to chemically synthesized Ag 2 O particles. The MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium-bromide) assay of green-synthesized Ag 2 O particles showed high anticancer activity against MCF-7 cells with IC 50 = 17.908 µg/mL compared to chemically synthesized Ag 2 O particles with IC 50 = 23.856 µg/mL. The antiviral activity of green-synthesized Ag 2 O particles and chemically synthesized Ag 2 O particles was also evaluated by a plaque-forming assay, and green-synthesized Ag 2 O particles showed higher antiviral ability with IC 50 = 0.618 µg/mL as compared to chemically synthesized Ag 2 O particles with IC 50 = 6.129 µg/mL. We propose the use of green-synthesized Ag 2 O particles in cancer treatment and drug delivery.