Evaluation of cytotoxic effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles coated with chitosan by the cyanobacterium Aliinostoc sp. against cancer cells (Hep G-2)

Today, green synthesis methods for the synthesis of nanoparticles are being considered to replace chemical methods. This study was conducted with the aim of biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles from cyanobacterial extract and its cytotoxic activity against human hepatocellular cancer cells. First, zinc oxide nanoparticles were prepared by three different methods (supernatant, phycocyanin and with the help of extracellular polysaccharides) from the extract of cyanobacterium Aliinostoc sp and coated with chitosan to stabilize the synthesized nanoparticles. Then the cytotoxic effect of these particles on HepG2 cancer cells was investigated. The statistical analysis of the obtained data was done with SPSS software (version 24) and Excel, one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's test. The results showed that with increasing concentration of zinc nanoparticles, cell viability decreased significantly. So that in the microcoated samples, the lowest survival in (gμ/mL) 200 and then in (μg/mL) 100 zinc nanoparticles with values of 37.40% and 44.03%, respectively, and also in the samples Uncoated, the lowest survival was observed at 200 (μg/mL) and then at 100 (gμ/mL) zinc nanoparticles with values of 46.80 and 56.83%, respectively. The coating of synthesized nanoparticles with chitosan increased the killing effect and the life of cancer cells decreased significantly.