ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mol. Biosci.
Sec. Nanobiotechnology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2025.1653312
Eco-friendly production of silver-copper nanoparticles using coconut husk and evaluation of its anti-cancer properties on human breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell line
Provisionally accepted
Atheer M Asiri
Daoud Ali
Nawal Alamalahi
Mohammed H A Almarzoug
Bader Almutairi
Saad Hussin AlkahtaniBadr A Aldahmash
Saud Alarifi*- Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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The biological processes using green synthesis tool is safe, environmentally friendly, nontoxic, and economical, they are more suited to manufacturing nanoparticles with sizes between 1 and 100 nm than other related techniques. Here, I have used chemical methods to create bimetallic silver copper nanoparticles (Ag@CuNPs) utilizing coconut husk. Before exposure to target cells, the characterization of green silver copper nanoparticles (gAg@CuNPs) was done by UV vis spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), DLS. The shape of gAg@CuNPs are spherical and its size is measured 43.50 ±1.5 nm. The cytotoxic effect of g Ag-Cu NPs on human breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cells was determined by MTT and NRU tests. The cytotoxicity of gAg@CuNPs increased in a concentration-dependent manner and it showed high cytotoxic effect on MDA-MB-231 cells at the highest concentration of NPs exposure. From the MTT result I determined the median inhibitory concentration (IC50) for MDA-MB-231 cells at 24 hours, which came out to be 66 μg/mL of NPs. Intracellular ROS levels was elevated at higher concentration of gAg@CuNPs. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels was increased at 33 μg/ml and it was reduced at 45 μg/ml. Glutathione (GSH) was reduced in MDA-MB-231 cells at high concentration of gAg@CuNPs. Using JC-1 staining, the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in control, and gAg@CuNPs exposed cell were evaluated. In MDA-MB-231 cells, maximum apoptotic cells were observed at high concentration of NPs. Caspase-3/7 activity was increased in MDA-MB-231 cells at higher concentration of NPs. The above findings highlight the significance of gAg@CuNPs as cytotoxic agent brought on by oxidative stress, which frequently useful in a number of cancer treatments.
Keywords: gAg@CuNPs, ROS, MDA-MB-231 cells, MTT assay, Apoptosis
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 27 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Asiri, Ali, Alamalahi, Almarzoug, Almutairi, Alkahtani, Aldahmash and Alarifi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Saud Alarifi, Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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