1. Introduction
In recent times, nanotechnology is an extremely emerging and developing
field having tremendous implications both in academia and industry. A
number of physical, chemical and biological methods have been adopted to
formulate different kind of nanoparticles. The physical methods of
preparation involve high pressure and temperature. The techniques are
also quite expensive [1-4]. Also, in many chemical pathways, the
chemicals used are very harmful and toxic to the environment as well as
for biological systems. The by-products derived from the chemical
methods are also very toxic. So, the need for a suitable cost-effective
and efficient pathway that does not produce toxic substances, without
affecting the environment is highly demanding [5,6]. Adoption of
biological procedure is one of the best ways to solve the above
discrepancies to the synthesis of nanoparticles. The mother nature has
provided a great resource in this regard. Different microorganisms like
bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi and algae as well as plants and plant
extracts are employed as the biological template in the synthesis of
nanoparticles [7-9]. Recently, plant extracts have been widely used
in the synthesis of functionalized nanoparticles. The typical advantage
in the phytosynthesis of nanoparticle using plant extracts are the use
of water as only solvent, being essentially abundant, green and safe
solvent. The nanoparticle biosynthesis using biological materials is
also very simple and does not need special conditions that are required
in chemical and physical ways [10-12]. The reduction potential of
biological materials is higher than that of microbial culture media, and
as a result, the time required for the nanoparticle formation is
comparatively less. The pollution created during the nanoparticle
biosynthesis using biological materials is almost zero. As a result, the
nanoparticle biosynthesis using biological materials has very low
environmental impact, highly compatible with the environment [9-11].
However, the speed of production, quality and other properties of
nanoparticles depend on many factors such as the nature of biological
materials, reaction time, temperature, pH, metal salt concentration, and
extract concentration. The use of biological materials due to their
environmental compatibility with the abundance are usually prioritized.
Also, due to their lack of need for special nutrients and conditions for
growth, biological materials are considered the best option for the
nanoparticle production [7-10].
Nanoparticles are designed in such a way that they can carry a higher
dose of medicine with them and deliver it to the target area that is
affected by cancer. In fact, these particles are not a threat to healthy
body cells and only affect cancer cells and destroy them [11-13].
This method is considered a targeted treatment that attacks only the
target cells and acts selectively. By this method on several patients,
positive and satisfactory results have been obtained, which can be
considered as part of the great developments of medical science in the
field of cancer treatment [10-14].
With these inputs, we wish to report herein a competent biogenic
synthesis of bio-functionalized tiny Ag NPs templated over the
chitosan-starch mixed polymeric hydrogel. The biopolymers facilitate the
binding of incoming Ag ions followed by green reduction to the
corresponding NPs. The polar electron rich organo functions (OH,
CH2OH, NH2) prevailed over the conjugate
biopolymers also helps in the stabilization of the as-synthesized NPs by
encapsulation or capping and preventing them from self-agglomerations.
Based on the structure oriented anti-cancer activities of different
bio-functionalized nanoparticles, the Ag NPs/CS-Starch bio-composite
nanomaterial was employed in the determination of cytotoxicity and
anti-leukemina activities against a number of corresponding cell lines
like acute myeloid leukemia (32D-FLT3-ITD and Human HL-60/vcr), acute
lymphoblastic leukemia (MOLT-3 and TALL-104), and acute T cell leukemia
(Jurkat, Clone E6-1 and J.RT3-T3.5). In all of them the % cell
viability decreases dose-dependently. In addition, the material was
studied in the determination of antioxidant properties through the well
known DPPH radical scavenging analysis, which in turn showed outstanding
activity, being referenced to BHT molecule.