Eco-friendly synthesis of iron nanoparticles by green tea extract and cytotoxicity effects on tumoral and non-tumoral cell lines

Zero-valent iron nanoparticles (ZVI NPs) have been employed in environmental and biomedical applications. These nanoparticles are used in the remediation of soil and water contaminated with heavy metals, and ZVI NPs can be used in the biomedical sector, as drug delivery system due to the large surface area-to-volume ratio. However, their toxicity should be better investigated. In this study, green tea extract was used to synthesize ZVI NPs. The green tea-synthesized nanoparticles (GT-ZVI NPs) were characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. DLS analysis revealed that the nanoparticles have average hydrodynamic size of 104 nm. The results indicated the presence of organic matter derived from green tea extract on the surface of GT-ZVI NPs. The average size of the nanoparticles at solid state was found to be 32 nm. The cytotoxicity of GT-ZVI NPs (1–150 µg/mL) was determined on tumoral (human chondrosarcoma line, SW1353 cells) and non-tumoral (Vero fibroblast cell line) by quantitative cell viability analysis and cell morphological evaluation. GT-ZVI NPs exerted more cytotoxic effect on tumoral line compared to non-tumoral cell line. The viability of SW1353 cells was higher than 75% upon incubation with GT-ZVI NPs, at concentrations in the range of 1–60 µg/mL. At nanoparticle concentrations of 100 and 150 µg/mL, the viability of SW1353 cells decreased 69 and 62%, respectively. These results indicate that these nanoparticles might find important applications in cancer treatment with less toxicity to normal cells. Graphic abstract