The aqueous extract of Portulaca oleracea was used as a biocatalyst for the reduction of Na₂SeO₃ to form Se-NPs that appeared red in color and showed maximum surface plasmon resonance at a wavelength of 266 nm, indicating the successful Phyto-fabrication of Se-NPs. A FT-IR chart clarified the role of plant metabolites such as proteins, carbohydrates, and amino acids in capping and stabilizing Se-NPs. TEM, SAED, and XRD analyses indicated the formation of spherical, well-arranged, and crystalline Se-NPs with sizes in the range of 2–22 nm. SEM-EDX mapping showed the maximum peaks of Se at 1.4, 11.3, and 12.4 KeV, with weight and atomic percentages of 36.49 and 30.39%, respectively. A zeta potential of −43.8 mV also indicated the high stability of the synthesized Se-NPs. The Phyto-synthesized Se-NPs showed varied biological activities in a dose-dependent manner, including promising activity against pathogenic bacteria and Candida species with varied MIC values in the range of 12.5−50 µg·mL⁻¹. Moreover, the Se-NPs showed antiviral activity toward HAV and Cox-B4, with percentages of 70.26 and 62.58%, respectively. Interestingly, Se-NPs showed a target orientation to cancer cell lines (HepG2) with low IC₅₀ concentration at 70.79 ± 2.2 µg·mL⁻¹ compared to normal cell lines (WI−38) with IC₅₀ at165.5 ± 5.4 µg·mL⁻¹. Moreover, the as-formed Se-NPs showed high activity against various instar larvae I, II, III, and IV of Culex pipiens, with the highest mortality percentages of 89 ± 3.1, 73 ± 1.2, 68 ± 1.4, and 59 ± 1.0%, respectively, at 50 mg L⁻¹. Thus, P. oleracea-based Se-NPs would be strong potential antimicrobial, anti-viral, anti-cancer, and anti-insect agents in the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries.

Oxaliplatin (Oxa)-associated adverse side effects have considerably limited the clinical use of the drug in colon cancer therapy. Mutant p53 has diverse mutational profiles in colon cancer, and it influences the potencies of various chemotherapeutic drugs, including Oxa. Thus, it would be highly beneficial to identify an alternative therapeutic strategy that not only reduces the toxicity of Oxa, but also exerts a synergistic effect against colon cancers, regardless of their p53 profiles. The present study was aimed at preparing and optimizing Teucrium polium L. essential oil nanoemulsion (TPO-NANO) and investigating its effect on the sensitivity of colon cancer cells with differences in p53 status (HCT116 wild-type and HT-29 mutant-type) to Oxa. The viability of treated cells was determined and the combination index (CI) was calculated. Morphological changes were determined under inverted microscopy, while percentage apoptosis was assayed using flow cytometry. Intracellular ROS and the protein levels of p53 and Bax were measured. The colony-forming potential of treated cells was determined using colony assay. The size of TPO-NANO was markedly increased from 12.90 ± 0.04 nm to 14.47 ± 0.53 nm after loading Oxa (p ≤ 0.05). The combination (Oxa + TPO-NANO) produced a synergetic effect in HCT116 and HT-29, with CI of 0.94 and 0.88, respectively. Microscopic examination and flow cytometric analysis revealed that cells treated with Oxa + TPO-NANO had a higher percentage of apoptosis than cells exposed to monotherapy. Cumulatively, Oxa exerted an apoptotic effect on wild or mutant p53 colon cancer cells when combined with TPO-NANO, through a mechanism involving ROS-mediated mitochondrial apoptosis.

The chemotherapeutic drugs, loaded in nanocarriers, have recently attracted the pharmaceutical industries due to their limited adverse side effects. The objective of the current study was to incorporate the ifosfamide (IFO) into two different essential oils-based nanoemulsions, lemon (LEM-IFO) and salvia (SAL-IFO). The antiproliferation activities of the resulted formulas were evaluated in the MCF-7 breast cancer cells and HeLa cervical cancers cells. The cytotoxic effect of the NE formulas was detected by the MTT assay, DAPI stain and light microscopy. The z-average diameters range of LEM-IFO and SAL-IFO, determined by the zetasizer, were 49.15–61.81 nm and 56.64–64.62 nm, respectively. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of LEM-IFO and SAL-IFO, applied into the HeLa cells, were 0.165 ± 0.025 and 0.141 ± 0.035 mM, respectively, whereas the IC₅₀ of LEM-IFO and SAL-IFO subjected into the MCF-7 cells were 0.200 ± 0.005 mM and 0.270 ± 0.025 mM, respectively. The IC₅₀ of the free IFO was markedly larger than LEM-IFO and SAL-IFO when applied into MCF-7 cells (9.20 ± 2.01 mM) and HeLa cells (7.69 ± 1.88 mM). Among the tested formulas, LEM-IFO and SAL-IFO have the greatest apoptotic effect on the MCF-7 and HeLa cells, respectively. Solubilizing the IFO in the essential oils-based NE has ameliorated the antitumor efficacy of IFO.

The anticancer effects of chemotherapeutic agents may be accentuated, and their side effects minimized by combining them with essential oils in nanocarrier systems. This study aimed to incorporate ifosfamide (IF) into nanoemulsion-based clove oil (IF-CLV). The nano-emulsion (NE) formulas were characterized with Zetasizer. The cytotoxicity of the formulated NEs against cervical (HeLa) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cell lines was determined using MTT assay, light microscopy, and DAPI staining. The z – average diameters of NE-CLV and IF-CLV were 63.1±1.00 and 89.4±2.64 nm, while Zeta potential values were – 4.39±0.4 and – 11.65±1.1mV, respectively. Cytotoxicity studies revealed that relative to free IF, NE-CLV and IF-CLV were highly toxic on HeLa and MCF-7cells, in a dose-dependent manner. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of NE-CLV against HeLa and MCF-7 have decreased 38 and 27 folds, while the corresponding IC₅₀ values of IF-CLV have decreased 57 and 35 folds, respectively. These results suggest that the incorporation of IF into NE-based clove oil produces potent therapeutic effects against cancer cell lines.

This study was aimed at optimizing the conditions for producing oil-in-water nanoemulsion based on Teucrium polium L. essential oil (TP-EO) with high-pressure homogenization method using mixture of surfactants Tween 80 (Tw80) and Span 20 (Sp20). The experiment was designed based on the Box-Behnken method and the effect of % Sp20, Tw80:Sp20, and %TP-EO on size, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential (ZP) of the prepared nano-emulsions were determined. Micro-broth dilution assay was utilized to determine the in vitro antibacterial effect of the optimized formulation of TP-NE. The results revealed that more desirable TP-NE with minimum particle size (153.75 ± 1.34 nm) and PDI (0.04 ± 0.003) and maximum ZP (−6.44 ± 0.13 mV) were obtained using 0.16%Sp20, 12 Tw80:Sp20 and 0.5%TP-EO. Furthermore, TP-NE had high growth inhibitory effect on S. aureus and MRSA, with IC₅₀ of 8.73 ± 0.07 and 9.38 ± 0.07% (v/v), respectively. In addition, TP-EO inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa, S. sonnei, E. coli, and K. pneumonia, with IC₅₀ of 10.83 ± 0.09, 16.62 ± 0.1, 20.50 ± 0.2, and 28.64 ± 0.12% (v/v), respectively. The viabilities of S. aureus and MRSA treated with 16.67% (v/v) TP-NE were significantly reduced by 6.88 and 2.3-folds, respectively, relative to when they were treated with equivalent concentration of TP-EO. The growths of P. aeruginosa, E. coli, K. pneumonia, and S. sonnei, were inhibited 3.95, 2, 1.16, and 1.10-fold, respectively, after treatment with 16.67% (v/v) TP-NE, when compared with TP-EO-treated groups. In conclusion, the optimized TP-NE has antibacterial activity above that of pure oil. Graphical Abstract