Biosynthesis of iron nanoparticles using brown algae Spatoglossum asperum and its antioxidant and anticancer activities through in vitro and in silico studies

Green synthesized metal nanoparticles play a significant role in biomedical applications. This investigation focused on eco-friendly synthesized iron nanoparticles using marine brown algae Spatoglossum asperum which was evaluated for its anticancer and free radical scavenging activity against glioblastoma. The formation of iron nanoparticles confirmed the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak at 400 nm by UV visible Spectrum. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy analysis confirmed the crystalline structure of iron nanoparticles. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy analysis was used to identify the functional groups in the algae extract that are involved in the ferrous ion oxidation into iron nanoparticles (Fe3O4NPs). Scanning electron microscope images indicated that the produced nanoparticles were spherical and 16 nm in size, as had been predicted. The S. asperum-mediated Fe3O4NP has shown potential antioxidant activities against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrayl and H2O2 activity and its scavenging inhibition was 80.13% and 62.21% determined at 50 µg/mL. The anticancer activity of the synthesized Fe3O4NP against human glioblastoma cells (LN-18) was analyzed and the Fe3O4NPs half inhibitory concentration was found to be 19.24 µg/mL. The findings of the investigation evaluated the binding affinities of different proteins expressed in glioblastoma with bioactive compounds in the S. asperum by performing molecular docking by autodock vina version 4.2. The results of the present investigation revealed that S. asperum-mediated iron oxide nanoparticles exhibited antioxidant potential and effectively suppressed the proliferation of glioblastoma cancer cells.