Biosynthesis and health promoting traits of green synthesized cobalt oxide nanoparticles

Nanomedical applications have increased significantly. This work aimed to fabricate and characterize cobalt oxide nanoparticles (CoOnps) synthesized biologically via aqueous Alhagi maurorum extract and evaluate their cytotoxic and antimicrobial impacts. Green-synthesized CoOnps were prepared and analyzed using UV-Vis spectrophotometer UV-vis, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy TEM, Energy dispersive X-ray analysis EDAX, Fourier transform infrared, FTIR, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). In vitro traits of green-synthesized CoOnps were studied on ovarian cancer cells (SKOV3) using a Sulforhodamine B (SRB) method. The cytotoxic effect and IC50 were estimated. Moreover, concentrations of 10, 30, 40, 70, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 μg/mL CoOnps were applied to investigate their antimicrobial effect against Listeria, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus as gram +ve pathogenic bacteria, Bifidobacterium bifidum 2203, Bifidobacterium bifidum LMG 10,645, Bifidobacterium breve LMC 017, Bifidobacterium angulatum 2238 and Bifidobacterium longum ATCC 15,707 as probiotics, E. coli as gram -ve bacterial model and yeast strain Candida albicans. CoOnps showed anti-ovarian cancer effects at 24.02 μg/mL. Furthermore, it exerted antimicrobial activity versus Listeria, Streptococcus, S. aureus, and E. coli were 31.66 ± 0.88, 24.33 ± 2.08, 25.66 ± 0.33, and 33.00 ± 6.08; however, they did not suppress the growth of Candida albicans and all tested Bifidobacterial strains up to concentrations of 500 μg/mL with significant difference compared to all concentrations p < 0.05. Green synthesis of CoOnps is a low-cost, eco-friendly and easily prepared method. Its impressive features as cytotoxic SKOV3, a cell line ovarian cancer and antibacterial effect for some gram +ve and -ve bacteria, besides maintaining probiotics, could candidate them as competitive agents for medical, pharmacological, agricultural and food applications.