Abstract
M.Sc. (Nanoscience)
Globally, colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancer and also the leading
cause of cancer-related mortality and morbidity. In 2012 alone, the global occurrence of CRC
was 1.4 million cases and is expected to increase to more than 2.2 million new cases by 2030.
The success rates of the standard treatment modalities are not very high, expensive and are
accompanied by very unpleasant side effects. Therefore, effective treatment is advantageous
for instant interventions to decrease the mortality and morbidity rates. This study investigated
for the first time, phytochemical synthesised gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and platinum
nanoparticles (PtNPs) capped with an indole alkaloid, hypaphorine to act as bioactive
cytotoxic nano-agents against cancer cell lines. Among metallic NPs, Gold and platinum NPs
exhibit remarkable characteristics that are well known to bring revolution in the biomedical
field owing to their remarkable biomedical applications, particularly in cancer therapy. Green
synthesis of metallic NPs is of interest due to non-toxic, rapidness as well as eco-friendly
benefits over chemical and physical methods. Gold and Pt salts were successfully reduced to
their corresponding NPs in the presence of hypaphorine, in a single step; a process that fulfils
all criteria of green nanotechnology. Formation of NPs was observed within 5 minutes and
characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, DLS and TEM, and FTIR. Moreover, MTS and
xCELLigence tests were carried out using various concentrations of hypaphorine-capped
AuNPs and PtNPs for cytotoxic activity analysis.
Phytochemical mediated synthesis of metallic NPs is of interest to biologists and chemists
due to non-toxic, rapid as well as eco-friendly benefits over chemical and physical methods.
However, fabrication methods for metallic NPs using phytochemicals and studies on their
applications in cancer therapy are still sparse. Gold and Pt salts were successfully reduced to
their corresponding NPs in the presence of hypaphorine, in a single step; a process that fulfils
all criteria of green nanotechnology. Formation of NPs was observed within 5 minutes and
characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy to confirm the synthesis. Morphological
characteristics, elemental composition and crystalline nature of the NPs were determined by
dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fourier
transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was used to identify the functional groups responsible for
reducing and capping of NPs. Furthermore, MTS (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-
carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium) and xCELLigence test were...