Eman M Abd EL-Rahim*, Abd El-Hamid I Abd El-Gawwad and Rania E El-Gammal

Food Industries Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

*Corresponding Author: Eman M Abd EL-Rahim, Food Industries Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt.

Received: April 02, 2026; Published: June 23, 2026

Abstract

In recent years, with the advancement of nanotechnology, new methods have been invented to cure cancer. Moringa plant (Moringa oleifera leaves) is rich in phenolic and flavonoid compounds, which have anticancer and antioxidant properties. In this research, Chemical Composition, total polyphenols, total flavonoids and antioxidant activity % (DPPH) were determined, while, HPLC technique was used to fractionate phenolic and flavonoids components. The characteristics of metal nanoparticles of Zinc biosynthesized from aqueous extract of M. oleifera leaves were studied using Ultra Violet Visible Spectroscopy (U.V), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), Zeta size and zeta potential, the effect of dried aqueous extract and the synthesized of metal nanoparticles on normal cell (WI-38) and the growth and survival of cancer cell lines (MCF -7 and HepG-2) using different concentrations of (1, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 µg/mL) were investigated.

Results: Results showed that the moisture content, crude protein, ether extract, crude fibers, ash and available carbohydrates of M. Oleifera leaves were 8.16, 28.40, 10.50, 7.50, 5.33 and 47.60% respectively. The total polyphenol contents of the aqueous extract and the ML/Zn-NPs were (86.44 and 84.05 mg GAE/g dry weight) respectively, and the total flavonoid content decreased from (20.04 to 16.55 mg QE/g dry weight) after nanoparticles formation, while the IC₅₀ of DPPH increased marginally from 357 µg/ml (aqueous extract) to 366 µg/ml (ML/Zn-NPs). Chlorogenic acid was the predominant phenolic compound in both samples recording 568.33 ppm in (the aqueous extract) and increasing to 600.41 ppm in (ML/Zn-NPs). In the aqueous extract, daidzein was the predominant flavonoid (16.72 ppm), followed by quercetin (1.70 ppm) and rutin (0.40 ppm). After conjugation with Zn nanoparticles remarkable changes in the flavonoid profile were observed the concentration of daidzein decreased sharply to 6.44 ppm, while both rutin and quercetin increased to (3.05 and 2.34 ppm) respectively. Furthermore, the observed red-shift in the UV–Vis spectrum from (520 to 530 nm) indicates the appearance of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) as a result of the formation of Zn-NPs coated with organic phytochemicals. According to the results obtained from DLS, the sizes of zinc nanoparticles was 365.5 nm, while zeta potential of ML/Zn-NPs was -6.87 mV. Results of TEM reported that the particles size of MO/Zn-NPs ranged from approximately 45.21 to 86.98 nm. Meanwhile, the particles appeared predominantly spherical to near-spherical with an average diameter ranging between 0.041 and 0.070 μm. The EDX spectrum of ML/Zn-NPs revealed that the dominant peaks corresponding to oxygen (45.07 wt%), carbon (30.08 wt%) and zinc (14.44 wt%). Results showed dried aqueous extract and ML/Zn-NPs have equal effect on MCF7 at 500 µg/mL (98%). While (ML/Zn-NPs) had the highest inhibition effect against HepG2 tumor cell line at 500 µg/mL (96%). The IC₅₀ values recorded for DAEML and ML/Zn-NPs being (161.20 and 88.54 µg/mL) on W1-38 were substantially higher than those observed in cancer cells, indicating reduced toxicity towards normal cells.

Conclusion: Obtained results indicated that, the zinc nanoparticles biosynthesized from aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera leaves had the highest anti-cancer effect on MCF -7 and HepG-2 cell lines in compared with those of the dried aqueous extract without any effect on normal cells.

Keywords: Moringa oleifera Leaves; Aqueous Extract; Metal Nanoparticles; U.V.; TEM; SEM; EDX; Zeta Size; Zeta Potential; WI-38; MCF -7 and HepG-2

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Citation

Citation: Eman M Abd EL-Rahim., et al. “Assessment of Antioxidant Activity and Anti-Cancer Efficiency of Moringa oleifera Leaves and its Biosynthesized Metal Nanoparticles". Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 10.5 (2026): 45-58.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2026 Eman M Abd EL-Rahim., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.