Green synthesis of selenium nanoparticles using Cordia myxa extract and assessment of their cytotoxic and antioxidant properties

Hosseinpour, Leili; Baharara, Javad; Darroudi, Majid; Sabouri, Zahra; Haji Ghasem Kashani, Maryam; Zaker Bostanabad, Saeed

doi:10.22038/ajp.2025.25954

Green synthesis of selenium nanoparticles using Cordia myxa extract and assessment of their cytotoxic and antioxidant properties

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

¹ Department of Biology, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran

² Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

³ Department of Medical Biotechnology and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

⁴ Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, School of Biology and Institute of Biological Sciences, Damghan University, Damghan, Iran

⁵ Department of Biology, Parand Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

10.22038/ajp.2025.25954

Abstract

Objective: This research aimed to explore the cytotoxic, apoptotic, and antioxidant effects of selenium nanoparticles (Se-NPs) produced by Cordia myxa (C. myxa) aqueous extract via a green reduction method.
Materials and Methods: To synthesize Se-NPs, Na₂SeO₃ and C. myxa plant extract were used and their anticancer and antioxidant effects were investigated. After the synthesis of Se-NPs, their physicochemical properties were investigated by various techniques such as UV-Vis, XRD, TEM, FESEM/PSA, EDX, FT-IR, and DLS/Zeta. Next, the lethality of Se-NPs on cancerous Huh-7 and normal L929 cells was investigated. Then, using Annexin V/PI and DAPI kits, the number of apoptotic cells in terms of the obtained percentage and the amount of ROS production was determined by flow cytometry. The influence of Se-NPs on the expression of genes associated with apoptosis has been examined.
Results: The XRD pattern and FESEM/TEM images confirmed the successful production of Se-NPs with an amorphous nature and size average of 11.9 nm. Flow cytometry analyses revealed a significant increase in ROS levels after 24 h of treatment with Se-NPs, demonstrating a concentration-dependent effect. Conclusion: The findings indicate that Se-NPs exhibit anticancer activity against Huh-7 cells, as evidenced by the upregulation of Bax, p53, and Caspase3 gene expression. Therefore, it can be asserted that Se-NPs have the potential to eliminate cancer cells, while simultaneously providing a protective effect on normal cells.

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