Panax ginseng root aqueous extract mediated biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles under ultrasound condition and investigation of the treatment of human lung adenocarcinoma with following the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway

[Display omitted] •Green synthesis of Ag NPs using Panax ginseng leaf aqueous extract.•P. ginseng extract acted as reducing and stabilizing agent.•Ag NPs are obtained spherical shape with size of 10–20 nm.•Ag NPs showed good anti-lung adenocarcinoma property. In the current study, ultrasound-assisted biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles was described according to green chemistry rules by the aqueous extract of root’s Panax ginseng. The biosynthesized Ag NPs were characterized using different techniques, like FE-SEM, UV–Vis, EDS, elemental mapping and TEM. The shape, morphology and elemental composition of the prepared silver nanoparticles were studied by the FE-SEM and EDS data. The TEM image shows the monodispersed and spherical nanoparticles of size ranging from 20 to 40 nm. Colorimetric DPPH tests were done to assess the antioxidant capacity of Ag NPs and the MTT method to investigate the cytotoxicity against PC14 lung adenocarcinoma cell line as well as the normal HUVEC cell linein vitro. The IC50 of the Ag NPs nanocomposite was 157 µg/mL against PC14 cancer cell line. The Ag NPs nanocomposite increased the LDH release, apoptosis and ROS levels and regulated the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in the PC14 cells.