Green synthesis of stable antioxidant, anticancer and photocatalytic activity of zinc oxide nanorods from Leea asiatica leaf

The present work reveals zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) obtained via green synthesis approach utilizing phytochemicals present in the Leea asiatica plant. The synthesized ZnO NRs was confirmed by various characterization methods like X-ray diffraction, FTIR, SEM-EDX, UV–vis, TEM and Raman spectra analysis. The obtained nanorods show less particle size with a distinctive high surface area. The photodegradation activity of obtained ZnO NRs shows 81.3 % of dye degradation at high concentration whereas 42.9 % in low concentration and also antioxidant test shows a better result for free radical scavenging. To understand the safety of the ZnO NRs zebrafish embryos was utilized as a model and found to be less toxic after assessment. Furthermore, to understand the anticancer activity of ZnO NRs it was assessed against breast cancer cell line through MTT, XTT, NRU, and LDH assay. The ZnO NRs exposed against breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) had resulted in necrosis and apoptosis which was further confirmed by genotoxicity assay. Also, the molecular mechanisms behind the necrosis and apoptosis are also discussed to show the involvement of ZnO NRs towards breast cancer cells (MCF-7). The present study on ZnO NRs gives a wide spectrum understanding of using ZnO NRs as a potential drug for human breast cancer by showing its physiological pathways as well as a novel way to synthesize ZnO NRs using Leea asiatica plant extract.