Antidiabetic Activity of Phytosynthesized Ag/CuO Nanocomposites Using Murraya Koenigii and Zingiber Officinale Extracts

Abstract

\n In this paper, we report the phytosynthesis of Ag/CuO nanocomposites (NCs) using Murraya koenigii and Zingiber officinale green extracts containing unique metabolites. The silver and copper oxide nanoparticles, and Ag/CuO NCs were also synthesized by chemical methods for the purpose of comparison with phytosynthesized Ag/CuO NCs. All the synthesized nanomaterials were characterized by diverse spectro-analytical methods. The phytochemical analysis confirmed the presence of active phytoconstituents in the Murraya koenigii and Zingiber officinale extracts. The major biomolecules present in the plant extracts act as reducing and capping agents in the green synthesis process, as identified using FT IR spectroscopy. The maximum absorbance at ~ 290 and ~ 460 nm corresponding to CuO and Ag evidenced the formation of Ag/CuO NCs. Further, the XRD patterns also confirmed the formation of nanocomposites by exhibiting the fcc crystalline and monoclinic nature of Ag and CuO nanoparticles, respectively. The SEM images displayed the spherical shape of the synthesized NCs, and the EDX spectra confirmed the presence of Ag, Cu and O elements in the synthesized NCs. The TEM images revealed the relatively uniform size of the synthesized nanomaterials ranging between 18 and 22 nm. The in vitro antidiabetic activity with α-amylase, α-glucosidase and glucose-6-phosphatase enzymes, and glucose uptake assay showed that the Ag/CuO NCs synthesized using Zingiber officinale extract displayed highest activity than the rest of the synthesized nanomaterials.