Bioinspired green-synthesized silver nanoparticles: in vitro physicochemical, antibacterial, biofilm inhibitory, genotoxicity, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and anticoagulant performance

Abstract

Green-synthesized nanobiomaterials, for instance silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), can be engineered as smart nanomedicine platforms for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes of various disorders, including infectious diseases and cancer. In the present study, the Pimpinella anisum aqueous seed extract was applied for the phytofabrication of AgNPs. Several analytical instrumental techniques were applied for the characterization of AgNPs involving UV-visible spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transmission infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The nanoparticles (NPs) were formed with spherical morphology with an average hydrodynamic diameter of 65.40 nm. Furthermore, the biogenic AgNPs exhibited significant antibacterial activity against the reference strain of Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and eleven pathogenic E. coli isolates. Interestingly, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AgNPs and gentamicin were found to be 4 and 8 μg mL⁻¹ against E. coli (ATCC 25922), respectively. More interestingly, the AgNPs significantly inhibited the biofilm formation against all tested isolates, whereas gentamicin exhibited lower potency for inhibition of bacterial biofilms at the studied concentrations. The interaction of AgNPs with isolated bacterial plasmid and genomic DNA represented the genotoxic effect of these NPs. The AgNPs also exhibited 82.44 ± 1.43% DPPH inhibition, 67.65 ± 4.78% glucose uptake inhibition by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and 71.43 ± 4.92% alpha-amylase inhibition at a concentration of 1 mg mL⁻¹. Moreover, the AgNPs showed significant anticoagulant activity at 1 mg mL⁻¹ compared to saline (P < 0.05).