Phyto mediated synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles with Zingiber officinale: comprehensive bioactivity assessment against bacterial pathogens, cancer, and viruses

This work investigated the capacity of Zingiber officinale extract to synthesize copper oxide nanoparticles. Z. officinale extract is rich in diverse phytochemical constituents, as confirmed by GC–MS analysis. The synthesized CuO NPs were characterized using TEM, FTIR, XRD, SEM, and EDX analyses. CuO NPs exhibited antibacterial efficacy against various bacterial strains. The DPPH methodology was employed to evaluate the free radical scavenging capacity, yielding an IC₅₀ value of 244.5 µg/mL. The CuO NPs exhibited pronounced antibiofilm activity at 100 µg/mL, reducing biofilm formation by S. aureus (MRSA) and E. coli by 70.93% and 67.3%, respectively. In addition, they demonstrated substantial antidiabetic potential, inhibiting α-amylase and α-glucosidase by up to 90% and 84% at 1000 µg/mL, with corresponding IC₅₀ values of 46.42 µg/mL and 38.9 µg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, CuO NPs exhibited low toxicity toward Vero cells, with an IC₅₀ of 261 µg/mL and showed potential anticancer activity against the carcinoma cell lines CaCo2 and McF7, with IC₅₀ values of 84.4 and 168 µg/mL, respectively. At 125 µg/mL, CuO NPs inhibited HAV and HSV-1 by 37% and 41.1%, respectively. These multifaceted bioactivities highlight the potential of Z. officinale–mediated CuO NPs as promising candidates for therapeutic and biomedical applications.