Preparation and activity study of selenium nanoparticles from polysaccharides of Moringa oleifera leaves

Moringa oleifera leaves are the leaves of the Moringa oleifera tree and have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypoglycaemic properties. In the present study, polysaccharides were extracted from Moringa oleifera leaves and prepared by redox method to produce Moringa oleifera leaves polysaccharide selenium nanoparticles (MOLPSeNPs). The selenium nanoparticles with smaller particle size of MOLPSeNPs were obtained by one-way and response surface optimization. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) were used for characterisation and in vitro activities of MOLPSeNPs were determined. The results showed that MOLPSeNPs with a particle size of 106.62 ± 1.78 nm were obtained by one-way and response surface optimisation; SeNPs were uniformly dispersed by Moringa oleifera leaf polysaccharides (MOLP) in the form of round spheres. SeNPs bind to MOLP in the form of hydrogen bonds with -OH and C-O-H of MOLP; SeNPs enhanced the antioxidant and hypoglycaemic activities of MOLP in in vitro activity assays. This study provides ideas for the reduction of SeNPs and provides a theoretical basis for the study of MOLPSeNPs.