Eco-Friendly Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Activities of Silver Nanoparticles from Terminalia chebula Fruit

The current study involves of the synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles using a methanol extract of Terminalia chebula fruit as a reductive and stabilizing agent. The UV-visible peak of the obtained silver nanoparticles was visible at 470 nm. The presence of the hydroxyl and primary amines functional groups was identified with FT-IR analysis. According to SEM and EDAX images, the synthesized silver nanoparticles are primarily spherical and have a limited size distribution between 80 to 110 nm. The analysis of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles revealed the distinct peaks (signals), confirming the presence of silver metal. Among the tested bacteria, Salmonella sp. exhibited the least sensitivity to the green-synthesized silver nanoparticles, with a 4 mm inhibition zone, whereas higher inhibition zones were recorded for Staphylococcus aureus (6 mm), Escherichia coli (7 mm) and Bacillus cereus (6 mm). The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles exhibited a concentration-dependent enhancement in DPPH activity, with an average IC50 value of 794.07 µg/mL. The MTT assay was also employed to study anticancer effects of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles on human-origin cancer cell lines (HeP-2, Vero and MDAMB-231). When tested against HeP-2, Vero and MDAMB-231 cell lines, varying concentrations of the biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (TC-ME AgNPs) showed the morphological degeneration, cytotoxicity and damage. However, they were more effective against HeP-2 cells and MDAMB-231 cells. The findings suggest that silver nanoparticles, which could be useful in a variety of biological applications, can be produced efficiently from plant resources.