Chaetomium globosum extract mediated gold nanoparticle synthesis and potent anti-inflammatory activity

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are gaining a lot of attention in recent decades from researchers due to their unique optoelectronic properties and their significance in the field of biomedicine. Keeping this in view, our research work was designed to investigate gold nanoparticles obtained by using a fungal endophytic strain Chaetomium globosum, isolated from Vitex negundo which showed significant activity on enzyme inhibition. In the present study, the fungal isolate C. globosum was characterized using HPLC and LC-MS. A novel compound Catechin was matched with standard Catechin. Further, the endophyte C. globosum extract was utilized to synthesize gold nanoparticles (CgAuNPs) which was analysed by UV-Visible spectroscopy. The CgAuNPs exhibited wine red color and the absorption peak appeared at 542 nm confirming the formation of the AuNPs. Further, Fourier Transmission Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) was performed to confirm the various functional groups present in mycosynthesized CgAuNPs. FTIR analysis demonstrated the presence of amines, flavonoids, as well as the presence of amide I linkage which possibly reduces Au⁺ to Au⁰. The synthesized CgAuNPs exhibited potential cytotoxicity against HeLa cells in a dose dependent manner. Further, CgAuNPs demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity. Overall, the present work provides insights into the design of nano delivery and may be applied for clinical studies in future.

Keywords: Chaetomium globosum; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); Gold nanoparticles; High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC); Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS); Vitex negundo; X-ray diffraction (XRD).