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BIOGENIC SYNTHESIS OF NANOSILVER PARTICLES FROM ROOT EXTRACT OF MORUS ALBA L. AND THEIR BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES

GHAZALA FARID MINHAS ¹, BUSHRA HAFEEZ KIANI ^2*, UZMA GHANI ¹, KHAWAJA SHAFIQUE AHMAD ³, AALIA SHAH ¹

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Morus alba (Moraceae), mulberry, is considered a great source of therapeutic agents for the treatment of chronic diseases like cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and ulcer. The present study reported the simple and successful synthesis of silver nanoparticles by using aqueous, ethanol and methanol root extracts of M. alba and the analysis of their efficacy against different biological activities. UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were used to characterize the morphology of silver nanoparticles. Brine shrimp cytotoxicity, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antitumour assays were performed and free radical scavenging activity was measured using the DPPH free radical assay. The nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis and XRD, UV-Vis spectra showed the characteristic peaks ranging from 400 - 800 nm. With the help of SEM analysis, the size of silver nanoparticle was found to be 297 nm and their shape was irregular and had a rough surface. Among all the extracts, methanolic extracts showed strong antibacterial activity (MIC = 0.5), antifungal activity (MIC = 0.5), with MIC value of 0.5 as compared to ethanolic extract (MIC = 5) and aqueous extracts (MIC = 10). Methanolic extracts also showed the highest antioxidant activity (IC50 = 158.68), antitumour activity (IC50 = 105.03), and cytotoxicity activities (IC50 = 24.83) as compared to other extracts. These results suggest that secondary metabolites in the root extracts of M. alba may be responsible for enhanced biological activities. Nanoparticles synthesized by employing plants can have advantages over other biological entities which can overcome time consuming processes and be environmentally friendly