Green synthesis of novel selenium nanoparticles using Crataegus monogyna extract (SeNPs@CM) and investigation of its toxicity, antioxidant capacity, and anticancer activity against MCF-7 as a breast cancer cell line

In recent years, the synthesis of nanoparticles using bioactive agent, the so-called green synthesis, has attracted scientist’s attentions due to their unique potentials. Since breast cancer death is one of the most prevalent causes of mortality in women, providing the nanoparticles in a facile, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and efficient method for treatment of breast cancer is necessary. For this purpose, the evaluation of toxicity, antioxidant capacity, and anticancer activity of biosynthesized selenium nanoparticles using Crataegus monogyna extract (SeNPs@CM) against breast cancer cell line was investigated in this study. The biosynthesized SeNPs@CM was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, EDS, and TEM analysis. TEM images confirmed the oval and spherical morphology of SeNPs@CM with particle size ranging about 30–60 nm. Anticancer activity of SeNPs@CM on breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7) was studied and compared with balk selenium (Se). MTT assay results showed toxicity of both SeNPs@CM and bulk Se on MCF-7 cell line at lower concentration, but no toxicity was observed for SeNPs@CM on normal cell line. In contrast, bulk selenium showed toxicity against normal cell lines at higher concentrations. Clonogenic assay data showed that proliferation of MCF-7 decreased in group treated with SeNPs@CM in contrast to control and bulk Se groups. Moreover, total antioxidant capacity showed no significant changes in group treated with SeNPs@CM compare to control group, but the average amount of activity increased by increasing the concentrations. Furthermore, catalase activity showed that SeNPs@CM increased the amount of activity on both cell lines at 24 and 48 h, but bulk Se reduced the catalase activity on MCF-7 cell line after 48 h. Our results demonstrated that SeNPs@CM has better efficiency especially when using in high concentrations in contrast to selenium. The present study suggests that the Crataegus monogyna extract mediated synthesized Se NPs can be exploited for potential biomedical applications.