Biomimetic synthesis of Piper betle decorated nano copper oxide: Investigations of their antioxidant, antibacterial and apoptotic efficacy

This work investigates the sustainable route for the preparation of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) from Piper betle leaf extract via the green synthesis route. The unique physico-chemical properties of synthesized P–CuO NPs was characterized by XRD, FTIR, UV–visible spectroscopy, TEM and EDAX and DLS. The synthesized P–CuO NPs mostly were in spherical shape with crystalline nature and their sizes range from 80 to 102 nm. The P–CuO NPs showed appreciable antioxidant activity and antibacterial activity against MDR strains such as E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and S. aureus. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity activities of P–CuO NPs were examined using the MTT assay on human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells and the IC50 was found at 36.11 ± 2.73 μg/mL. In addition, the intrinsic apoptotic pathway was detected by live and dead cell assays like LDH, caspase-3 activation, ROS, DAPI, AO/EtBr and MMP. Finally, the green synthesized P–CuO NPs had a lower hemolysis activity at 4.72% when compared to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) range of <5%, which indicates that the synthesized NPs were more hemocompatible. Overall, the findings of this study revealed that P–CuO NPs could be used as an alternative therapeutic agent to cure microbial infection and breast cancer in humans.