Pepper-Mediated Green Synthesis of Selenium and Tellurium Nanoparticles with Antibacterial and Anticancer Potential

Veer Shah; David Medina-Cruz; Ada Vernet-Crua; Linh B Truong; Eduardo Sotelo; Ebrahim Mostafavi; María Ujué González; José Miguel García-Martín; Jorge L Cholula-Díaz; Thomas J Webster

doi:10.3390/jfb14010024

Pepper-Mediated Green Synthesis of Selenium and Tellurium Nanoparticles with Antibacterial and Anticancer Potential

J Funct Biomater. 2022 Dec 31;14(1):24. doi: 10.3390/jfb14010024.

Authors

Veer Shah^{1

2}, David Medina-Cruz^{1

2}, Ada Vernet-Crua^{1

2}, Linh B Truong^{1

2}, Eduardo Sotelo³, Ebrahim Mostafavi^{4

5}, María Ujué González⁶, José Miguel García-Martín⁶, Jorge L Cholula-Díaz³, Thomas J Webster^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
² Nanomedicine Science and Technology Center, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
³ School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico.
⁴ Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁶ Instituto de Micro y Nanotecnología, IMN-CNM, CSIC (CEI UAM+CSIC), Isaac Newton 8, 28760 Tres Cantos, Spain.
⁷ School of Health Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China.
⁸ School of Engineering, Saveetha University, Chennai 602105, India.
⁹ Department of Materials, Federal University of Piaui, Teresina 64001, Brazil.

Abstract

The production of nanoparticles for biomedical applications (namely with antimicrobial and anticancer properties) has been significantly hampered using traditional physicochemical approaches, which often produce nanostructures with poor biocompatibility properties requiring post-synthesis functionalization to implement features that such biomedical applications require. As an alternative, green nanotechnology and the synthesis of environmentally friendly nanomaterials have been gaining attention over the last few decades, using living organisms or biomolecules derived from them, as the main raw materials to produce cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and ready-to-be-used nanomaterials. In this article and building upon previous knowledge, we have designed and implemented the synthesis of selenium and tellurium nanoparticles using extracts from fresh jalapeño and habanero peppers. After characterization, in this study, the nanoparticles were tested for both their antimicrobial and anticancer features against isolates of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains and skin cancer cell lines, respectively. The nanosystems produced nanoparticles via a fast, eco-friendly, and cost-effective method showing different antimicrobial profiles between elements. While selenium nanoparticles lacked an antimicrobial effect at the concentrations tested, those made of tellurium produced a significant antibacterial effect even at the lowest concentration tested. These effects were correlated when the nanoparticles were tested for their cytocompatibility and anticancer properties. While selenium nanoparticles were biocompatible and had a dose-dependent anticancer effect, tellurium-based nanoparticles lacked such biocompatibility while exerting a powerful anti-cancer effect. Further, this study demonstrated a suitable mechanism of action for killing bacteria and cancer cells involving reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. In summary, this study introduces a new green nanomedicine synthesis approach to create novel selenium and tellurium nanoparticles with attractive properties for numerous biomedical applications.

Keywords: antibacterial; anticancer; biomedicine; chalcogens; nanoparticles; peppers.

Abstract

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