Evaluation of the Cytotoxic Effects of Concomitant Use of Ag/ZnO Nanoparticles and Curcumin on MCF7 Breast Cancer Cell Line

Cancer is the second cause of death. The use of a new drug delivery system that can deliver the drug to the tumor site and prevent it from entering the body's natural tissues is essential. Metal oxide nanoparticles have been considered one of the effective candidates for cancer treatment. For this reason, our study was conducted to investigate the cytotoxic effect of the simultaneous use of Ag/ZnO nanoparticles and curcumin on the Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF7) breast cancer cell line.

The MTT colorimetric method was used to investigate the synergistic effects of zinc oxide silver nanoparticles and curcumin. Cells with different concentrations of zinc oxide silver nanoparticles and curcumin, including 3.9, 7.8, 15.62, 31.25, 62.5, 125, 250, 500, and 1000 micrograms/ml during 24 and 48 h were incubated in triplicate to observe the synergistic effects of each of these concentrations, ratios of 1 to 1, 0.5 to 0.5, 0.25 to 0.75 of zinc oxide silver nanoparticles and curcumin were used. The viability of the cells treated with the drug was determined in the form of the percentage of light absorption of the produced formazan and was shown in a two-dimensional curve.

The effect of Ag/ZnO nanoparticles alone on the survival rate of cancer cells had a significant difference with curcumin. In addition, in the simultaneous examination of Ag/ZnO nanoparticles and curcumin, much more cytotoxicity was observed than in Ag/ZnO alone.

In general, the simultaneous use of chemotherapy drugs and nanoparticles can decrease the concentration of chemotherapy drugs used in cancer treatment.