One-Pot Solvothermal Synthetic Route of a Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle-Decorated Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite: An Advanced Material with a Novel Anticancer Theranostic Approach

Nalinee Kanth Kadiyala; Badal Kumar Mandal; L Vinod Kumar Reddy; Dwaipayan Sen; Sai Kumar Tammina; Crispin H W Barnes; Manuel Ñique Alvarez; Luis De Los Santos Valladares; Venkata Subbaiah Kotakadi; Susmila Aparna Gaddam

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c06082

One-Pot Solvothermal Synthetic Route of a Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle-Decorated Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite: An Advanced Material with a Novel Anticancer Theranostic Approach

ACS Omega. 2023 Nov 28;8(49):46763-46776. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c06082. eCollection 2023 Dec 12.

Affiliations

¹ Trace Elements Speciation Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, School of Advanced Sciences, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore 632014, India.
² Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics Laboratory, Centre for Biomaterials, Cellular and Molecular Theranostics, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore 632014, India.
³ Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, J.J. Thomson Ave., Cambridge CB3 0HE, U.K.
⁴ Universidad Nacional de Cañete, Jr. San Agustin 124, San Vicente de Cañete15701, Lima, Peru.
⁵ Laboratorio de Ceramicos y Nanomateriales, Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Ap Postal 14-0149, Lima, Peru.
⁶ DST PURSE Centre, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati 517502, A.P., India.
⁷ Department of Virology, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati 517502, A.P., India.

Abstract

This study focuses on a one-pot solvothermal synthetic route for the preparation of uniformly decorated zinc oxide nanoparticles on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO/ZnO-NC) by using Andrographis paniculata leaf aqueous extract as an eco-friendly reducing agent. After characterizing the samples by different physical and chemical techniques, the anticancer activity of the synthesized rGO/ZnO-NC was examined on two human cancerous cell lines (HCT116 and A549) and one normal cell line (hMSCs). The MTT assays revealed that rGO/ZnO-NC exhibited dose-dependent cytotoxicity at a maximum concentration range of 10 ppm and the viability of the cells was drastically decreased to 95-96%. Measurement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and Annexin V-FTIC staining assay revealed that rGO/ZnO-NC induced apoptosis in HCT116 and A549 cell lines. Thus, this study shows that the green-synthesized rGO/ZnO-NC has great potential in developing an efficacious novel therapeutic agent for cancers.