Antimicrobial, Antiviral, and In-Vitro Cytotoxicity and Mosquitocidal Activities of Portulaca oleracea-Based Green Synthesis of Selenium Nanoparticles

Amr Fouda; Waad A Al-Otaibi; Taisir Saber; Sahar M AlMotwaa; Khalid S Alshallash; Mohamed Elhady; Naglaa Fathi Badr; Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman

doi:10.3390/jfb13030157

Antimicrobial, Antiviral, and In-Vitro Cytotoxicity and Mosquitocidal Activities of Portulaca oleracea-Based Green Synthesis of Selenium Nanoparticles

J Funct Biomater. 2022 Sep 19;13(3):157. doi: 10.3390/jfb13030157.

Authors

Amr Fouda¹, Waad A Al-Otaibi², Taisir Saber³, Sahar M AlMotwaa², Khalid S Alshallash⁴, Mohamed Elhady¹, Naglaa Fathi Badr⁵, Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo 11884, Egypt.
² Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Humanities, Shaqra University, Shaqra 11961, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ College of Science and Humanities-Huraymila, Imam Mohammed Bin Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh 11432, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Zoology and Entomology, Faculty of Science (Girls' Brunch), Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo 11751, Egypt.

Abstract

The aqueous extract of Portulaca oleracea was used as a biocatalyst for the reduction of Na₂SeO₃ to form Se-NPs that appeared red in color and showed maximum surface plasmon resonance at a wavelength of 266 nm, indicating the successful Phyto-fabrication of Se-NPs. A FT-IR chart clarified the role of plant metabolites such as proteins, carbohydrates, and amino acids in capping and stabilizing Se-NPs. TEM, SAED, and XRD analyses indicated the formation of spherical, well-arranged, and crystalline Se-NPs with sizes in the range of 2-22 nm. SEM-EDX mapping showed the maximum peaks of Se at 1.4, 11.3, and 12.4 KeV, with weight and atomic percentages of 36.49 and 30.39%, respectively. A zeta potential of -43.8 mV also indicated the high stability of the synthesized Se-NPs. The Phyto-synthesized Se-NPs showed varied biological activities in a dose-dependent manner, including promising activity against pathogenic bacteria and Candida species with varied MIC values in the range of 12.5-50 µg·mL^-1. Moreover, the Se-NPs showed antiviral activity toward HAV and Cox-B4, with percentages of 70.26 and 62.58%, respectively. Interestingly, Se-NPs showed a target orientation to cancer cell lines (HepG2) with low IC₅₀ concentration at 70.79 ± 2.2 µg·mL^-1 compared to normal cell lines (WI-38) with IC₅₀ at165.5 ± 5.4 µg·mL^-1. Moreover, the as-formed Se-NPs showed high activity against various instar larvae I, II, III, and IV of Culex pipiens, with the highest mortality percentages of 89 ± 3.1, 73 ± 1.2, 68 ± 1.4, and 59 ± 1.0%, respectively, at 50 mg L^-1. Thus, P. oleracea-based Se-NPs would be strong potential antimicrobial, anti-viral, anti-cancer, and anti-insect agents in the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries.

Keywords: Candida spp.; Cox-B4; Culex pipiens; HAV; Portulaca oleracea; human hepatocellular carcinoma; plant-based Se-NPs.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.