Facile Synthesis of Zn-Doped Bi2O3 Nanoparticles and Their Selective Cytotoxicity toward Cancer Cells.
Maqusood AhamedMohd Javed AkhtarM A Majeed KhanZabnAllah M AlaizeriHisham AlhadlaqPublished in: ACS omega (2021)
Bismuth (III) oxide nanoparticles (Bi2O3 NPs) have shown great potential for biomedical applications because of their tunable physicochemical properties. In this work, pure and Zn-doped (1 and 3 mol %) Bi2O3 NPs were synthesized by a facile chemical route and their cytotoxicity was examined in cancer cells and normal cells. The X-ray diffraction results show that the tetragonal phase of β-Bi2O3 remains unchanged after Zn-doping. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images depicted that prepared particles were spherical with smooth surfaces and the homogeneous distribution of Zn in Bi2O3 with high-quality lattice fringes without distortion. Photoluminescence spectra revealed that intensity of Bi2O3 NPs decreases with increasing level of Zn-doping. Biological data showed that Zn-doped Bi2O3 NPs induce higher cytotoxicity to human lung (A549) and liver (HepG2) cancer cells as compared to pure Bi2O3 NPs, and cytotoxic intensity increases with increasing concentration of Zn-doping. Mechanistic data indicated that Zn-doped Bi2O3 NPs induce cytotoxicity in both types of cancer cells through the generation of reactive oxygen species and caspase-3 activation. On the other hand, biocompatibility of Zn-doped Bi2O3 NPs in normal cells (primary rat hepatocytes) was greater than that of pure Bi2O3 NPs and biocompatibility improves with increasing level of Zn-doping. Altogether, this is the first report highlighting the role of Zn-doping in the anticancer activity of Bi2O3 NPs. This study warrants further research on the antitumor activity of Zn-doped Bi2O3 NPs in suitable in vivo models.
Keyphrases
- oxide nanoparticles
- heavy metals
- quantum dots
- electron microscopy
- induced apoptosis
- highly efficient
- reactive oxygen species
- escherichia coli
- computed tomography
- metal organic framework
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- oxidative stress
- risk assessment
- electronic health record
- optical coherence tomography
- magnetic resonance
- climate change
- staphylococcus aureus
- mass spectrometry
- liver injury
- convolutional neural network
- candida albicans
- big data
- cystic fibrosis
- reduced graphene oxide