ABSTRACT Green synthesis provides a sustainable approach to nanoparticle production with reduced environmental impact while preserving bioactivity. Herein, gold nanoparticles (Zr‐AuNPs) were synthesized using Zanthoxylum rhetsa pericarp extract via a simple, eco‐friendly route. The obtained Zr‐AuNPs were thoroughly characterized by UV‐Visible spectroscopy, FT‐IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, SAED, DLS and zeta potential analysis, confirming their spherical morphology, crystalline nature, nanoscale size distribution (average size 35.08 ± 1.94 nm) and reasonable colloidal stability. The anticancer activity of Zr‐AuNPs was evaluated against human lung (A549), ovarian (SKOV3) and breast (MCF‐7) cancer cell lines using the MTT assay at 24 and 48 h. The IC 50 values were 29.48 ± 0.97, 37.819 ± 0.819 and 24.092 ± 0.704 µg/mL at 24 h and 18.47 ± 0.37, 20.510 ± 0.656 and 21.623 ± 0.515 µg/mL at 48 h for A549, SKOV3 and MCF‐7 cells, respectively. Colony formation, DNA fragmentation and fluorescence microscopy further confirmed dose‐dependent cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction. Overall, these results highlight Zr‐AuNPs as a promising biocompatible nanoplatform for anticancer applications.
Dutta et al. (Sun,) studied this question.