Characterization, antioxidant and cytotoxicity evaluation of green synthesized silver nanoparticles using Cleistanthus collinus extract as surface modifier

•A hitherto unreported venomous plant mediated AgNPs synthesis.•The particle size is observed in the range of 20–40 nm.•Surface morphology of the well-dispersed silver nanoparticles is studied using SEM and TEM.•Crystalline nature of AgNPs is confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis.•Antioxidant activities of green synthesized AgNPs are tested in vitro.

We report, here a simple green method for the preparation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the plant extract of Cleistanthus collinus as potential phyto reducer. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV–vis spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The obtained results confirmed that the AgNPs were crystalline in nature and the morphological studies reveal the spherical shape of AgNPs with size ranging from 20 to 40 nm. The in vitro antioxidant activity of AgNPs showed a significant effect on scavenging of free radicals. The cytotoxicity study exhibited a dose-dependent effect against human lung cancer cells (A549) and normal cells (HBL-100), the inhibitory concentration (IC50) were found to be 30 μg/mL and 60 μg/mL respectively. The in vivo histopathology of mouse organs proved that AgNPs does not possess toxic effect and can be extensively applied in biomedical sciences.

Graphical abstractThe figure is the TEM image of green synthesized silver nanoparticles from Cleistanthus collinus. In this investigation we have used the poisonous plant as a reducing and capping agent. This is a first time data to synthesis the metal nanoparticles using poisonous plant.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide