Green Synthesis, Chemical Characterization, Antioxidant, Cytotoxicity and Anticancer Effects of Vanadium Nanoparticles

Abstract

Silybum marianum is a plant with many remedial properties and may help prevent the cancer spread. Studies in this field show that this plant can reduce the growth of cancer cells. Probably, Silybum marianum will improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Also, the side effects of the recent treatments may be reduced by using this plant. The Food and Drug Administration has not confirmed Silybum marianum for the cancer treatment, but it may be effective in the treatment of these cancers: prostate, breast, cervical, blood, small intestine, and skin. Researching formulation of metallic nanoparticles by medicinal plants is the research priority of all countries. In the current experiment, we synthesize the vanadium nanoparticles by the watery extract of the Silybum marianum aerial parts. The characterization was conducted by field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, fourier transform infrared, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. The DPPH inhibition efficacy was assessed by the DPPH examination, while the MTT assay was used to evaluate anti-cervical cancer (against LM-MEL-41, HT-3, Ca Ski, DoTc2 4510, SiHa, and C-33 A cells) and cytotoxicity efficacy of vanadium NPs. In XRD, the signals at 2 theta values of 25.13, 27.77, 44.94, 49.52, 66.28, and 70.57 belong to the planes of (202), (103), (401), (205), (406), and (125) respectively. Based on the findings of FE-SEM, the NPs are formed with the morphology of spherical with an aggregation. In FT-IR, the peaks at 416 and 551 cm−1 can be assigned to V–O–V and V–O bonds. The EDS analysis confirms the vanadium presence by the signals at 5.45 (VKβ), 4.98 (VKα), and 0.53 (VLα). The other signals below 0.5 KeV verify the appearance of carbon and oxygen in the green synthetic vanadium nanoparticles. The V nanoparticles IC50 was 126, 157, 165, 125, 132, and 197 μg/mL against LM-MEL-41, HT-3, DoTc2 4510, C-33 A, SiHa, and Ca Ski cervical cancer cells, respectively.