Green synthesis of metal nanoparticles from medicinal plants has provided a broad scope in biomedical research and functional food formulations due to low toxicity. Dendropanax morbifera (DM) is a versatile traditional medicine used for various inflammatory diseases due to its extensive antioxidant activity. We investigated DM as a natural capping agent for Zn2+ ions and coloaded it with tryptophan for its penetration and antiobesity behavior. DM zinc oxide nanoparticles (DM-ZnO NPs) were prepared and then entrapped with tryptophan (DM-ZnO-Try nanoemulsion (NE)) for stable formulation using the O/W nanoemulsion method. The hydrodynamic sizes measured by dynamic light scattering for DM-ZnO NPs and DM-ZnO-Try NE are about 146.26 ± 3.31 and 151.16 ± 3.59 nm, respectively. TEM and SEM reveal its morphology. In vitro analysis on both NPs and NE was non-toxic to RAW 264.7 and 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cell line. It significantly reduced the accumulated lipids through lipolysis performed at 10 ug/mL in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells. NE suppresses the differentiation of 3T3-L1 adipocytes and lowers triglycerides. Further, the substantial reduction of lipid content is evident with Oil Red O staining and OD measurement. In this present study, the synergetic effect of DM-ZnO NPs and tryptophan is reported, which provides a way for more detailed research on its efficacy for obesity and obesity-associated disorders.
Keywords: Dendropanax morbifera; RAW 264.7 cell lines; nanoemulsion; obesity 3T3-L1; tryptophan; zinc nanoparticle.