Cytotoxicity, phytotoxicity, and photocatalytic assessment of biopolymer cellulose-mediated silver nanoparticles

Abstract The appearance of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), their exponential production and the consumer products that contain them have raised concerns about their potential risks. Hence, the monitoring of Ag NPs in environmental and biological systems is of vital importance. Furthermore, until now, the information about the toxicity of Ag NPs synthesized from green sources rather than polluting methods is scarce. Hence, in the current work, a simple and straightforward synthesis of Ag NPs mediated by cellulose biopolymer and the evaluation of their cytotoxicity, phytotoxicity, and photocatalytic activity were described for the first time. Initially, the green synthesized Ce-Ag NPs were fully physicochemically characterized. Ce-Ag NPs were sphere-shaped, had high crystallinity, and had a mean diameter of 5–100 nm. The in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of the green synthesized Ce-Ag NPs was carried out in human normal keratinocyte (HaCaT) and human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells by MTT assay. After the 24 h-treatment with Ce-Ag NPs (0.1–500 µg/mL), the viability of both cell lines was significantly inhibited. Furthermore, the Ce-Ag NPs exhibited dose-dependent cytotoxicity with a median inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 5.4 μg/mL and 4.9 μg/mL against HaCaT and MCF-7 cells, respectively. Moreover, in the phytotoxicity assay, the Ce-Ag NPs did not significantly affect seed germination, roots, and shoots length of Mung (Vigna radiata) but affect seed germination and shoots length of Wheat (Triticum aestivum). Besides, the photocatalytic activity of Ce-Ag NPs was evaluated by the decomposition of methylene blue (MB), detecting a great degradation from 120 min