TiO nanoparticles: green synthesis, characterization, and investigation of antimicrobial properties, and developmental toxicity in zebrafish () embryos.

The present study was designed to green synthesize titanium dioxide nanoparticles (G-TiO NPs) using leaf extract as a reducing and capping agent to assess antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects as well as toxicity evaluation in zebrafish. Besides, zebrafish embryos were employed to study the effect of G-TiO NPs on embryonic development. Zebrafish embryos were treated with TiO as well as G-TiO NPs at four different concentrations, i.e., 25, 50, 100, and 200 µg/ml for 24-96-hour post-fertilization (hpf). The SEM analysis of G-TiO NPs confirmed that the size was in the range of 32-46 nm and characterized by EDX, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, UV-vis spectra. During 24-96-hour post-fertilization (hpf), the results showed that 25-100 µg/ml of TiO and G-TiO NP instigated developmental acute toxicity in these embryos, causing mortality, hatching delay, and malformation. TiO and G-TiO NPs exposure induced axis bent, tail bent, spinal cord curvature, yolk-sac, and pericardial edema. Exposure of larvae to the highest concentrations of 200 μg/ml TiO and G-TiO NPs caused maximum mortality at all time points and reached 70% and 50%, respectively, at 96 hpf. Besides, both TiO and G-TiO NP revealed antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory effects . In addition, G-TiO NPs exhibited antibacterial effects. Taken together, this study provided a valuable insight into the synthesis of TiO NPs using green methods and the synthesized G-TiO NPs possess moderate toxicity and potent antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities.