Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Sideritis akmanii plant and evaluation of its biological activity

In this study, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were synthesized by green synthesis technique using the extract obtained from Sideritis akmanii plant and the obtained ZnONPs were characterized by Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometry (UV-VIS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) spectrophotometer, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. Cytotoxic effects of both ZnONPs and Sideritis akmanii plant extract on A549 cells were investigated by MMT assay and genotoxic effects by Comet assay method. It was observed that the cytotoxic activity of ZnONP doses was higher than Sideritis akmanii plant extracts. In the comet test, the highest DNA damage (62.25 ± 10.15) was observed in the 10 mg/mL ZnONP application at 48 h of application, DNA damage did not exceed the negative control group at 3 different plant extract doses. Moreover, the genotoxic effects of 4 different concentrations of ZnONPs (0.1, 1, 5, 10 mM) were evaluated on Drosophila melonagaster with the SMART test. The results obtained as a result of ZnONP application were found to be close to the control group and it was determined that no statistically significant genotoxic effect was observed. The antimicrobial activity of ZnONPs on Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213), Salmonella enteritidis (ATCC 13076), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 700603) and Candida albicans (ATCC 90028) microorganisms was analyzed using disk diffusion method. According to the antimicrobial and antifungal activity data, it was determined that the synthesized ZnONPs were effective on all microorganism strains used in the study and the inhibition zone diameters ranged from 8 to 13.67 mm.