Abstract
Au-nanoparticles (size about 2 nm, but not 5 or 15 nm) are capable of effectively incorporating into quasinematic layers of particles of cholesteric liquid-crystalline dispersion formed by double-stranded nucleic acid molecules of various families (DNA and poly(I)xpoly(C)). This Au-size-dependent process is accompanied by a decrease in amplitudes of abnormal bands in the CD spectra specific to initial cholesteric liquid-crystalline dispersions and simultaneously by an appearance of plasmon resonance band in visible absorption spectrum. The study of properties of particles of cholesteric liquid-crystalline dispersion treated with Au-nanoparticles by means of various physico-chemical methods demonstrates that incorporation of Au-nanoparticles into quasinematic layers of these particles results in two effects: i) it facilitates reorganization of the spatial cholesteric structure of particles, and ii) it induces the formation of Au-clusters in the content of particles. It is not excluded that these effects represent a possible reason for genotoxicity of Au-nanopar- ticles.
Highlights
Understanding how nanomaterials affect live-cells functions is the principal aim of nanobiotechnology [1]
The study of properties of particles of cholesteric liquid-crystalline dispersion treated with Au-nanoparticles by means of various physico-chemical methods demonstrates that incorporation of Au-nanoparticles into quasinematic layers of these particles results in two effects: i) it facilitates reorganization of the spatial cholesteric structure of particles, and ii) it induces the formation of Au-clusters in the content of particles
One can see that the formation of the liquidcrystalline ds nucleic acids (NA) dispersions induced by the high concentration of PEG in water-salt solution is accompanied by an appearance of intense bands in the circular dichroism (CD) spectra located in the region of absorption of NA nitrogen bases( λ ~270 nm)
Summary
Understanding how nanomaterials affect live-cells functions is the principal aim of nanobiotechnology [1]. The cytotoxicity of Au-nanoparticles in vitro and in vivo has been examined by several research groups, no general conclusion can be drawn at present [5,6,7,8] It is connected (maybe) to the fact that the functioning of the nanomaterials in living cells was tested in quite different biological test-systems and the estimation of the mechanism (or mechanisms) of this process is a complicated problem [9,10]. That due to the high local concentration of the ds DNA molecules and their ordered arrangement in particles of CLCD, the low-molecular-mass chemical and biologically active compounds quickly diffuse into the content of particles of CLCD and interact with ds DNA molecules forming different complexes [11] This process induces an appearance peculiarities (specific for these compounds) in the circular (CD) spectra [13]. This means that every particles of the CLCD was considered as an effective “adsorber” but as a sensing unit [14] for the low-molecular-mass compounds as well
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