• Investigating the effects of silver nanoparticles synthesized with Echinophora platyloba on breast cancer cells by MTT assay
  • Amirhosein Ekhlasi,1,* Mohammad Foad Noorbakhsh,2 Mahdi Fazeli,3 Amirreza Hashemian,4
    1. Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
    2. Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
    3. Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
    4. Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran


  • Introduction: Breast cancer treatment is fraught with significant challenges. Echinophora platyloba contains phytochemicals with potential anticancer activities and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for anticancer action. The green synthesis of AgNPs using Echinophora platyloba can enhance therapeutic performance and reduce cytotoxicity to normal cells.
  • Methods: AgNPs were synthesized by mixing 2 mL extract of Echinophora platyloba with 98 mL 1 mM silver nitrate, stirred for 24 hours at room temperature. MCF7 and NIH3T3 cells, cultured in DMEM with 10% FBS, 1% penicillin/streptomycin, and 0.1% amphotericin B at 37°C with 5% CO2, were seeded at 5 × 10^3 cells/well in 96-well plates. Cells were treated with AgNPs (100- 200-400-600-800 µg/mL) or taxol (5-10-15-20 µL/mL) for 24 and 48 hours. Cytotoxicity was assessed via MTT assay, measuring absorbance at 570 nm to determine IC50 values, with experiments in triplicate.
  • Results: One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test (p < 0.05) showed AgNPs had IC50 values of 438.93 µg/mL (24 h) and 321.08 µg/mL (48 h) in MCF7 cells, and 644.23 µg/mL (24 h) and 168 µg/mL (48 h) in NIH3T3 cells. Taxol IC50 values were 9.58 µg/mL (24 h) and 10.13 µg/mL (48 h) in MCF7 cells, and 3.14 µg/mL (24 h) and 2.77 µg/mL (48 h) in NIH3T3 cells.
  • Conclusion: AgNPs from Echinophora platyloba exhibited selective cytotoxic activities against MCF7 cells with less cytotoxicity against NIH3T3 cells compared to taxol. More research is required to clarify the mechanism of action as well as in vivo efficacy.
  • Keywords: Breast cancer - MTT assay - Silver nanoparticle – Taxol- Echinophora platyloba