BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF Berberis Vulgaris (Barberry) USING GOLD NANOPARTICLES (Aunps)

Abstract

This work seeks to examine the potential of synthesised Berberis vulgaris (also known as Barberry) with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in nanomedicine and therapeutic applications by investigating its increased biological characteristics.  Traditional medicine makes heavy use of the pharmacologically active chemicals found in the shrub Berberis vulgaris, especially the antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer berberine.  In this study, the aqueous extract of B. vulgaris was used as a reducing and stabilising agent in the green, environmentally friendly synthesis of gold nanoparticles.  Extensive physicochemical characterisations, including UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), validated the effective production of AuNPs.  These methods uncovered uniformly distributed spherical nanoparticles that were structurally and functionally characteristic of biomolecules produced from plants.  In vitro tests were used to determine the biological activities of the AuNPs that were synthesised. These tests included looking for antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, antioxidant potential using the DPPH free radical scavenging assay, and cytotoxic effects on certain human cancer cell lines.  There seems to be a synergistic impact between the phytoconstituents and the gold nanoparticles, as the findings showed that the biological performance of the AuNPs generated from B. vulgaris was much better when compared to the plant extract alone.  The results of this research strongly suggest that AuNPs mediated by Berberis vulgaris have enormous potential as multifunctional agents in the biomedical sector, especially for the creation of new cancer and antibacterial treatments.