Abstract

Metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) have gained attention in biomedicine due to their broad spectrum of applications, such as targeted drug delivery, their use as antibacterial agents or in cancer treatments. In particular, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have become one of the most popular metal oxide NPs in biomedical applications. The present study describes for the first time the biogenic synthesis of rod shaped ZnO NPs usingC. annuumL. var. grossum (L.) Sendt) extract as a capping agent. The purifiedC. annum-based zinc oxide nanorods (Ca-ZnO NRs) were characterized by different physico-chemical techniques. UV-vis spectroscopy depicted the absorbance peak at 372 nm. The size of nanorods ranges between 70 and 80 nm as revealed by FE-TEM micrographs and the mean size was 72 nm. Ca-ZnO NRs exhibited antibacterial activity in a dose-dependent manner and a greater activity was observed againstS. enterica. Ca-ZnO NRs have shown antioxidant activity (91%) at 100 mu g ml(-1)when compared to the standard (ascorbic acid) (98%). A significant inhibition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein denaturation evidenced their anti-inflammatory property. Further, Ca-ZnO NRs showed hemolysis of red blood cells (RBC) (similar to 3%) (up to 3 mu g ml(-1)) which is much lesser than permissible limit.