Green Immobilized Silver Nanoparticles Over Mentha spicata Flower Extract Modified Reduced Graphene Oxide: Investigation of its Antioxidant and Anti-liver Cancer Effects

The current work has been dedicated to the research studies on the development of green formulated nanomedicines to combat the hepatocellular carcinoma or liver cancer. Plant derived biogenic nanocomposite has been a major focus these days in the biological studies. So, herein we are prompted to develop a biocompatible and biodegradable carbonaceous nanocomposite where silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have been fabricated over the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) bio-inspired by Mentha spicata flower extract (RGO/M.S./Ag). The material has been methodically analyzed by advanced techniques like Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopes (FE-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Thereafter, the material was involved in the estimation of antioxidant properties by (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) DPPH radical scavenging method. The biological evaluation was further comprehended in the cytotoxic studies against the HepG2 (human hepatoma) liver cancer cell line in-vitro following Multi-Table Tournament (MTT) process. Interestingly, the material afforded % toxicity over the malignant cell line that reduced dose-dependently with its concentration. The inertness of RGO/M.S./Ag material towards normal cells were also verified over the CHO (Chinese hamster ovary) human normal cell line. The obtained results advocate the RGO/M.S./Ag nanocomposite to be a potential candidate against liver cancer. However, further studies are required to study in vivo for understanding the molecular mechanisms.