Enhanced Role of Flower Shaped Curcumin Loaded ZnO/Ag₂O Nanocomposites for Biological Applications

Surface-engineered metal oxide nanomaterials are currently being used extensively in various biomedical areas. The present study represents the synthesis of ZnO, Ag₂O nanoparticles (NPs), and their nanocomposite (NC) using chemical methods like sol–gel and co-precipitation. Various characterization tools like X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Vis spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) were used to examine the morphology and structure of synthesized materials. The prime objective of this work was to evaluate some key biomedical applications like antibacterial, antidiabetic, and anticancer activities of the abovementioned nanomaterials after loading with curcumin. For bactericidal activity, the nanomaterials were used against gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria by agar well diffusion method. All the synthesized nanomaterials showed potential antibacterial activity against the selected bacterial strains. The zones of inhibitions (ZOI) of curcumin-loaded nanomaterials were consistently found to be greater than the bare nanoparticles. It was further demonstrated that ZOI increases with an increase in the concentration of nanomaterial. For antidiabetic activity, the α-glucosidase inhibition was studied by taking acarbose as a standard. The anticancer activity was tested against MDA-MB-231 (breast cancer cells) which is more aggressive than other types. The analyses showed that the green synthesized particles with curcumin and their combined therapies were more efficient as compared to the synthetic ones. Further, the curcumin-loaded ZnO/Ag₂O NC manifests significantly enhanced anticancer, antidiabetic, and antibacterial activities as compared to the rest of the systems prepared in this investigation. This enhanced effectiveness can be associated with the stability and bioavailability of the NC. For antidiabetic activity, the inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) value (10.17 μM) for curcumin-loaded NC was found closer to the standard (10.23 μM). For anticancer activity, compared to bare, curcumin-loaded nanomaterials showed enhanced cytotoxic effects and therefore can be used as potential anticancer agents.