Facile green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from sprouted Zingiberaceae species: Spectral characterisation and its potential biological applications

Zingiberaceae species are widely in traditional medicine throughout the world. This study evaluates the potential biological applications of phyto-functionalised silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesised using sprouted Zingiberaceae species. The AgNPs were characterised and found to be spherical in the size of 25 nm-30 nm. The experimental results indicated that AgNPs have notable bactericidal activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Human colon cancer cells (HCT15) were used to perform the anticancer assay and cell viability at a concentration of 500 mu g/mL ranged from 43.71% to 49.49%. Also sprouted C. amada AgNPs at a concentration of 200 mu g/mL provided maximum inhibition of 65.40% and 68.78% for alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase activity respectively. Furthermore, the sprouted Z. officinale AgNPs at a concentration of 500 mu g/mL displayed significant glucose uptake percentage (99.56%) under in vitro conditions. The results indicated that phyto-functionalised AgNPs from sprouted Z. officinale and C. amada possess antibacterial, anticancer and antidiabetic activity.