Green Synthesis of Biologically Active Silver Nanoparticles through a Phyto-Mediated Approach Using Areca catechu Leaf Extract

Increasing demand of highly potent non-toxic drugs in medicine is opening up opportunities for studying the usage of nanoparticles in the treatment of various disease conditions. Proliferation of research works on silver nanoparticles pertinent to this area is driven by the useful electrochemical properties of silver embedded in various host lattices and their versatility in a broad range of applications in biosciences. In this work, we report a method for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Areca catechu leaf extract. The nanoparticles prepared using this method were characterized using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Spherical morphology and crystalline nature of the nanoparticles were evident from these analyses. Oxygen scavenging activity of the AgNPs and its application in the treatment of various multidrug resistant bacterial diseases caused by E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, S. typhi, P. vulgaris and fungal diseases of A. niger and F. oxysporium were studied in detail. The radical scavenging activity of AgNPs were found to be significantly high in 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazylradical (DPPH), and 2,2’Azinobis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) assays, which were further validated by high reducing capacity observed in phosphomolybdenum and reducing power assays. Furthermore, the AgNPs exhibited significant bactericidal and fungicidal properties against multidrug resistant strains.