Antiproliferative effect of 1,10-Phenanthroline coupled to sulfated ZnO nanoparticles in SiHa cervix cancer cell line

During the last decade, nanosized zinc oxide (ZnO) particles have been explored as antiproliferative agents in some cancer cell lines. In this research we propose the surface modification of ZnO with sulfate groups and 1,10-Phenanthroline as antiproliferative agent against SiHa cervical cancer cell line. The ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by two different methods: sol–gel (SG) and precipitation (P). By using sulfate as surface modifier, the anchoring of 1,10-Phenanthroline (Phen) was achieved by wet impregnation. The sol–gel samples showed hexagonal tube-shaped particles of around 100 nm in width, whereas the precipitation method promoted the formation of sphere-like particles with diameters ranging from 20 to 80 nm. The assessment of zeta potential and hydrodynamic size showed the variations due to the surface modifications exhibiting values ranging from −9.9 to −12.4 mV when dispersed in DMEM medium. The in vitro assays revealed the synergistic effect of the modified nanoparticles, which promoted apoptosis and inhibited 65% of cell proliferation in SiHa cell line. Graphical abstract Highlights Wet impregnation allowed to incorporate 1,10-Phenanthroline on the sulfated ZnO nanoparticles. The sol–gel and precipitation methods directed to different morphologies affecting the distribution of 1,10-Phenanthroline. Sol–gel modified nanoparticles showed 71.5% of apoptosis in SiHa cell line at a dose of 30 µg ml −1 . The surface modified sol–gel ZnO material activates twice Caspase-9 than the corresponding surface modified ZnO obtained by precipitation method.