TiO₂ nanoparticles: green synthesis, characterization, and investigation of antimicrobial properties, and developmental toxicity in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos

Abstract

The present study was designed to green synthesize titanium dioxide nanoparticles (G-TiO₂ NPs) using Salacia reticulata leaf extract as a reducing and capping agent to assess antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects as well as toxicity evaluation in zebrafish. Besides, zebrafish embryos were employed to study the effect of G-TiO₂ NPs on embryonic development. Zebrafish embryos were treated with TiO₂ as well as G-TiO₂ NPs at four different concentrations, i.e., 25, 50, 100, and 200 µg/ml for 24–96-hour post-fertilization (hpf). The SEM analysis of G-TiO₂ NPs confirmed that the size was in the range of 32–46 nm and characterized by EDX, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, UV–vis spectra. During 24–96-hour post-fertilization (hpf), the results showed that 25–100 µg/ml of TiO₂ and G-TiO₂ NP instigated developmental acute toxicity in these embryos, causing mortality, hatching delay, and malformation. TiO₂ and G-TiO₂ NPs exposure induced axis bent, tail bent, spinal cord curvature, yolk-sac, and pericardial edema. Exposure of larvae to the highest concentrations of 200 μg/ml TiO₂ and G-TiO₂ NPs caused maximum mortality at all time points and reached 70% and 50%, respectively, at 96 hpf. Besides, both TiO₂ and G-TiO₂ NP revealed antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects in vitro. In addition, G-TiO₂ NPs exhibited antibacterial effects. Taken together, this study provided a valuable insight into the synthesis of TiO₂ NPs using green methods and the synthesized G-TiO₂ NPs possess moderate toxicity and potent antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Salacia reticulata
• green synthesized TiO2 NPs
• zebrafish
• developmental toxicity
• antibacterial activity

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Sri Paramakalyani Centre for Excellence in Environmental Science-Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Research Centre for providing all the facilities to complete this research work. Dr. Abdulrahman Alasmari is grateful to the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia for its funding of this research through grant no: 0174-1439-S.

Ethical approval

All the animal experiments were carried out in compliance with the standard ethical guidelines and under the control of the Sri Paramakalyani Center for Excellence in Environmental Science-Manonmaniam Sundaranar University of Animal Ethics Committee (Ethical No. BRULAC/SDCH/SIMATS/IAEC/8-2021/083).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. This work was financially supported by Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia through grant no: 0174-1439-S.