Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Olea europaea Leaf Extract for Their Enhanced Antibacterial, Antioxidant, Cytotoxic and Biocompatibility Applications

Herein, we report the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (OE-Ag NPs) by ecofriendly green processes using biological molecules of Olea europaea leaf extract. Green synthesized OE-Ag NPs were successfully characterized using different spectroscopic techniques. Antibacterial activity of OE-Ag NPs was assessed against four different bacteriological strains using the dilution serial method. The cytotoxic potential was determined against MCF-7 carcinoma cells using MTT assay in terms of cell viability percentage. Antioxidant properties were evaluated in terms of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging. Biocompatibility was further examined by incubating the synthesized NPs with hMSC cells for 24 h. The results were demonstrated that synthesized OE-Ag NPs presented excellent log₁₀ reduction in the growth of all the tested bacterial strains, which as statistically equivalent (p > 0.05) to the standard antibiotic drug. Moreover, they also demonstrated excellent cytotoxic efficacy against the MCF-7 carcinoma cells compared to plant lead extract and Com-Ag NPs. Green synthesized OE-Ag NPs appeared more biocompatible to hMSC and 293T cells compared to Com-Ag NPs. Excellent biological results of the OE-Ag NPs might be attributed to the synergetic effect of NPs’ properties and the adsorbed secondary metabolites of plant leaf extract. Hence, this study suggests that synthesized OE-Ag NPs can be a potential contender for their various biological and nutraceutical applications. Moreover, this study will open a new avenue to produce biocompatible nanoparticles with additional biological functionalities from the plants.