Abstract
Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are usually wrapped with biocompatible polymers in biomedical field, however, the effect of biocompatible polymers of gold nanoparticles on cellular responses are still not fully understood. In this study, GNPs with/without polymer wrapping were used as model probes for the investigation of cytotoxicity and cell cycle progression. Our results show that the bovine serum albumin (BSA) coated GNPs (BSA-GNPs) had been transported into lysosomes after endocytosis. The lysosomal accumulation had then led to increased binding between kinesin 5 and microtubules, enhanced microtubule stabilization, and eventually induced G2/M arrest through the regulation of cadherin 1. In contrast, the bare GNPs experienced lysosomal escape, resulting in microtubule damage and G0/G1 arrest through the regulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Overall, our findings showed that both naked and BSA wrapped gold nanoparticles had cytotoxicity, however, they affected cell proliferation via different pathways. This will greatly help us to regulate cell responses for different biomedical applications.
Highlights
As the engineering of nanoparticles has been extensively developed over the past decades, various nanoparticles with unique physical and chemical properties have been designed for potential medical applications [1,2]
Choudhury et al reported that gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with lysosomal escape ability localized to the tubulin/microtubule system and caused cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase through induction of microtubule damage [10]
These results indicated coating with bovine serum albumin (BSA) enhanced the stability of GNPs, which can be attributed to good dispersity of BSA in high salt solution.The extinction spectra of the nanoparticles showed a peak at around 630 nm, which corresponded to the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance of the rod-shaped GNPs (Figure 1D)
Summary
As the engineering of nanoparticles has been extensively developed over the past decades, various nanoparticles with unique physical and chemical properties have been designed for potential medical applications [1,2]. Improving our understanding of the interactions between nanoparticles and biological systems, especially at the cellular level, is crucial for their risk control and for evaluating their potential applications as drug delivery vehicles or therapeutic agents [3].The study of interactions between nanoparticles and biological systems, with an emphasis on elucidating the relationship between the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles and biological responses, is essential [4,5]. Such studies are important prerequisites for designing and engineering nanoparticles with intentionally enhanced or suppressed cellular responses and toxicity. Whether the intracellular localization of nanoparticles is linked with G2/M cell cycle arrest is still unknown
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