Nanoparticles are involved in regulating the biology of cancer cell treatment, but their mechanism is not fully understood. We synthesized and characterized new green lead nanoparticles (gPbNPs) by using an extract of Ziziphus spina christi leaves. Its cytotoxic and apoptotic effect on the human colon cancer Cacoa2 cell line was evaluated. The gPbNPs were characterized by using energy dispersive X-rays, scanning electron microscopes, and transmission electron microscopes. The cytotoxic effects of gPbNPs against the human colon cancer Cacoa2 cell line were investigated, as were the possible mechanisms underlying the induction of apoptosis. In this experiment, we observed the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells, and the installation of caspase 3/7 was higher in cells at 16 µg/mL of gPbNPs. Moreover, the Bax gene was upregulated and the Bcl2 gene was downregulated, and increased caspase-3/7 activity confirmed the apoptotic effect of gPbNPs in cells. The cytotoxicity test confirmed that gPbNPs were selectively toxic in cancer cells and induced apoptosis by activating bad, bax, caspase-3/7, p27, p53 protein, and proteins involved in apoptosis. Our observation showed that gPbNPs induced cell toxicity, increased generation of intracellular ROS, and gene expression of Bcl2, and Bax, in the Cacoa2 cell line. In conclusion, these findings demonstrated that gPbNPs executed toxic effects on the Cacoa2 cell line by activating caspase-3/7 activity.

纳米颗粒参与调节癌细胞治疗的生物学，但其机制尚不完全清楚。我们使用枣树叶提取物合成并表征了新型绿色铅纳米颗粒 (gPbNP)。评估了其对人结肠癌Cacoa2细胞系的细胞毒性和凋亡作用。使用能量色散 X 射线、扫描电子显微镜和透射电子显微镜对 gPbNPs 进行了表征。研究了 gPbNPs 对人结肠癌 Cacoa2 细胞系的细胞毒性作用，以及诱导细胞凋亡的可能机制。在本实验中，我们观察到细胞内活性氧（ROS）的产生，并且在gPbNPs浓度为16 µg/mL时，细胞中caspase 3/7的安装量较高。此外，Bax基因上调，Bcl2基因下调，caspase-3/7活性增加证实了gPbNPs在细胞中的凋亡作用。细胞毒性测试证实，gPbNPs对癌细胞具有选择性毒性，并通过激活bad、bax、caspase-3/7、p27、p53蛋白和参与细胞凋亡的蛋白来诱导细胞凋亡。我们的观察表明，gPbNPs 在 Cacoa2 细胞系中诱导细胞毒性，增加细胞内 ROS 的产生以及 Bcl2 和 Bax 的基因表达。总之，这些发现表明 gPbNPs 通过激活 caspase-3/7 活性对 Cacoa2 细胞系产生毒性作用。