Evaluation of Toxicity of Chemically Synthesised Gold Nanoparticles Against Eudrilus eugeniae

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles have attracted much interest in various fields very specifically in biomedical engineering. As gold nanoparticles have wide range of applications in different fields, there is a need to study about its toxicity against the biological systems. Hence, this study mainly focuses on the determination of toxicity of gold nanoparticles. In this research, gold nanoparticles were synthesized using various concentration of chloroauric acid by citrate reduction method. The produced particles were characterized using UV–Vis, SEM and AFM analysis. The particles were checked for its toxicity against earthworm—Eudrilus eugeniae and histology was done, where it was found to destroy the epidermis of gut and clitellum of the earthworm depicting the toxicity of gold nanoparticles.