Green synthesis of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles from edible mushrooms: Characterization and evaluation of antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxicity activities

• Remarkable green mycosynthesis of edible mushrooms to produce CuO and ZnO nanoparticles. • The first comparison of extracts from Pleurotus ostreatus and Agaricus bisporus for nanoparticles. • Nanoscale, crystalline CuO and ZnO were verified by UV-Vis, FTIR, XRD, EDAX, SEM, and TGA. • This nanoparticles demonstrated potent antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. • P. ostreatus nanoparticles had exceptional bioactivity and specific anticancer effects. This study reports the mycosynthesis of Copper Oxide and Zinc Oxide nanoparticles using edible mushrooms - Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus and evaluates their physiochemical and biological properties. The biosynthesized nanoparticles were characterized using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, Thermogravimetric analysis, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Antioxidant activity assessed by phosphomolybdenum, superoxide radical, 2,2 –diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and ferric reducing assays showed that Pleurotus ostreatus -derived zinc oxide (91.40 ± 3.87 milligrams ascorbic acid equivalent per gram) nanoparticles exhibited higher antioxidant capacity. Superoxide radical scavenging was strongest in zinc oxide from Pleutrotus ostreatus (76.84 %) and copper oxide from the same source (65.32 %), while Agaricus bisporus mediated copper oxide displayed higher ferric reducing power (21.56 ± 1.04 micrograms per millilitre). Antimicrobial activity increased with concentration, with copper oxide and zinc oxide from Pleurotus ostreatus exhibiting maximum inhibition of approximately 48 % and 47 % at 200 microlitres. Anti-inflammatory activity revealed the highest inhibition for copper oxide from Pleurotus ostreatus (89.39 %), surpassing the standard (61.25 %). Cytotoxicity evaluation indicated a concentration-dependent inhibition, with copper oxide from Pleurotus ostreatus maintaining the strongest activity, decreasing from 89.22 % to 35.54 %. Overall, nanoparticles synthesized using Pleurotus ostreatus exhibited superior biological properties, highlighting the potential of mushroom-mediated green nanotechnology for biomedical applications.