Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles using Centaurea behen leaf aqueous extract and investigating their antioxidant and cytotoxic effects on acute leukemia cancer cell line (THP-1)

Abstract In this study Centaurea behen leaf aqueous extract was used for simple, rapid and eco-friendly synthesis of gold nanoparticles in room temperature. The obtained gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were analyzed by various analytical technique including UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). For investigating of cytotoxicity effect and antioxidant properties of C. behen leaf aqueous extract and AuNPs, MTT assay and the DPPH test was used. The result showed that synthesized AuNPs have spherical shape with size below 50 nm and XRD pattern confirmed the crystal structure. Our prepared nanoparticles showed the cytotoxicity effects against THP-1 cell line. The IC50 of synthesized AuNPs for leukemia cell line was calculated to be around 25 µg/mL while the C. behen aqueous extract could not reach the IC50. C.behen extract and AuNPs exhibited a maximum DPPH scavenging activity of 31% and 14%, respectively. In conclusion, these results suggest that AuNPs produced by cost-effective, eco-friendly and green synthesis method, have a suitable anticancer activity against leukemia cell line.