Evaluation of some Biological Properties of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) Nanoparticles synthesized by Green Method using Aqueous Extract of Rubia tinctrom

Introduction: Free radicals are molecules that have unpaired electrons in their last layer. The excessive production of free radicals causes oxidative stress. Oxidative stress thus adversely alters proteins, DNA and oxidation of the membrane phospholipids. Methods: The cytotoxic effects of zinc oxide nanoparticle were evaluated using MTT (3- (4-5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2,5-difenyltetrazolium bromide) assay against MCF7 cell line breast cancer cells. Also, the antioxidant properties of nanoparticles have been investigated using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picyryl-hydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2-Azino-bis (3- Ethyl benzothiazolin-6-sulfonic acid) procedure. Results: The obtain results showed that synthetized zinc oxide nanoparticles had an effective antioxidant properties in the DPPH and ABTS assay, which means that by increasing the nanoparticle concentration, the antioxidant property increased and its IC50 values was 1000 and 125μg/ml respectively. The result of the MTT assay was indicated that by increasing nanoparticle concentrations, the viability of MCF7 cells was reduced and IC50 values was reported at 40μg/ml. Conclusions: Our results shown that synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles have antioxidant properties and in low concentrations have cytotoxicity effects on cancer cells in compare to the normal cells, which makes this nanoparticle a suitable candidate for use in inhibiting cancer cells.