Facile preparation of Fe2O3 nanoparticles mediated by Centaurea alba extract and assessment of the anti-atherosclerotic properties

This research work attempts to synthesize iron nanoparticles with Centaurea alba extract. The reported synthesis method serves to be more effective over conventional physical and chemical methods, which is found to be cost effective, recyclable, biocompatible and prevents oxidation of iron oxide nanoparticle as well.As the extract of Centaurea alba possess high content of flavonoids, tannins and phenolic acids, it thereby prevents the oxidation and accumulation iron oxide NPs. The morphological features of the obtained nanoparticle were determined by TEM and SEM imaging techniques. Furthermore, various spectroscopic techniques including UV-Vis, FT-IR has been evaluated.As a part of cellular and molecular studies, the prepared FeNPs was subjected to MTT assay for 48h on normal (HUVEC) cells to evaluate its cytotoxicity. The IC50 of FeNPs and BHT against DPPH free radicals were 287 and 191 µg/mL respectively. Male Wistar rats were selected as the model organism for the in vivo studies and has been categorized into 6 groups, where normal diet was provided to the control group, cholesterol diet was provided to sham group (HCD: 1.50% cholesterol and 24.00% fat) and HCD was provided to other groups. FeNPs were infused at low (100µg Kg-1), moderate (200 µg/Kg) and maximum (400 µg/Kg) doses via gavages. Additionally, atorvastatin (10 mg Kg-1) was provided to the last group through gavages with HCD. Six months has been fixed as a study period for all the groups. Various parameters including total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was assessed in the blood samples of the test organism at the end of the period. Furthermore, sections of coronary artery and aortic arteries were subjected to histopathological examinations, which showed increase in vessel wall thickness in HCD group, however FeNPstreated groups showed no significant pathological changes. Decrease in TG, TC and LDL-C was observed upon treatment of HCD animals with FeNPs.