In vitro embryotoxicity and mode of antibacterial mechanistic study of gold and copper nanoparticles synthesized from Angelica keiskei (Miq.) Koidz. leaves extract

The present study demonstrated the in vitro embryotoxicity assessment of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) prepared from the leaves extract of Angelica keiskei (Miq.) Koidz. and addressed their mode of antibacterial mechanisms. Both AuNPs and CuNPs were rapidly synthesized and the formations were observed within 1 h and 24 h, respectively. Further the morphological images of the nanoparticles were confirmed through transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) analysis of the biosynthesized AuNPs and CuNPs were matched with joint committee on powder diffraction standards (JCPDS) file no of 04-0784 and 89-5899, respectively. A strong prominent Au and Cu signals were observed through energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis confirmed the responsible phytochemicals for the synthesis of AuNPs and CuNPs. In order to assess the toxic effects of AuNPs and CuNPs, bactericidal activity was performed against few of the test pathogens in which the effective inhibition was observed against Gram-negative bacteria than the Gram-positive bacteria. The mode of action and interaction of nanoparticles were performed on the bacterial pathogens and the results concluded that the interaction of nanoparticles initially initiated on the surface of the cell wall adherence followed by ruptured the cells and caused the cell death. In addition to the antibacterial activity, in vitro embryotoxicity studies were performed against zebrafish embryos and the results confirmed that 200 µg/ml concentration of AuNPs showed the embryotoxicity, whereas 2 µg/ml of CuNPs resulted the embryotoxicity. Furthermore, the morphological anomalies of zebrafish embryos revealed the toxic nature of the synthesized nanoparticles.