INTRODUCTION: Plant-mediated synthesis (Silver (Ag) to form nanoparticles) is progressively becoming well accepted in many scientific and pharmaceutical fields. This study is aimed at synthesizing Ag nanoparticles using air-dried leaves of four (4) neglected vegetables i.e. Cerathoteca sesamoides, Ceiba pentandra, Crassocephalum crepidioides, Launaea taraxacifolia.
METHODS: Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used for characterization. Cell Stabilization Membrane (CSM) and lipoxidase assays, DPPH and ABTS+ assays were used to assess the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of these AgNPs. L. taraxacifolia Ag nanoparticles (LT-AgNPs), C. sesamoides Ag nanoparticles (CS-AgNPs), C. pendandra Ag nanoparticles (CP –AgNPs) and C. crepidioides Ag nanoparticles (CC-AgNPs), were noticed through visual color change.
RESULTS: The UV–Vis spectra of the synthesized nanoparticles displayed absorption bands at around 360 - 440 nm, which is a characteristic band for Ag nanoparticles. The SEM image of the AgNPs formed displayed were spherical in morphology. CC-AgNPs exhibited the most significant inhibitory activity against HRBC (IC50: 32.2) while CS-AgNPs displayed the most significant inhibitory activity against lipoxygenases (IC50: 32.8). CP-AgNPs exhibited the most significant antioxidant effect against both ABTS and DPPH (IC50: 5.5 and 6.4) when compared to ascorbic acid (IC50: 4.7 µg/mL).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The synthesized AgNPs were found to be stable and the FTIR evidence suggested that the phytochemicals might have played an important role in the reduction and stabilization of AgNPs. This work showed that the synthesized AgNPs from non-cultivated vegetable can find relevance and application in health, drugs, food and environmental science. The evidences herein further confirmed their ethnopharmacological applications.