In Vitro Investigation into Plasmonic Photothermal Effect of Hollow Gold Nanoshell Irradiated with Incoherent Light

Abstract

Introduction: Hollow gold nanoshells (HAuNS) are one of the most attractive nanostructures for biomedical applications due to their interesting physicochemical properties. This study sought to evaluate the plasmonic photothermal effect of HAuNS irradiated with incoherent light on melanoma cell line. Materials and Methods: After the synthesis of nanostructures, the temperature changes of HAuNS and polyethylene glycol stabilized HAuNS (HAuNS-PEG) were evaluated at different irradiation dose levels. After determining the potential cytotoxicity of the agents, the DFW cells were irradiated by incoherent light with and without the nanostructures at different exposure doses with two spectral bands of 670±25 nm and 730±25 nm. Finally, the rate of the cell survival was determined by 1-Methyltetrazole-5-Thiol assay 24 h after irradiating. Results: The HAuNS, HAuNS-PEG, and light exposure did not have any significant effect on the cell survival, individually. Stabilizing with PEG led to an increase in size and decreased their polydispersity index, zeta potential, and conductivity. The slopes of temperature and cell death caused by 730 nm were greater than 670 nm when the cells were irradiated in the presence of nanostructures. These changes became more significant with increasing the dose of exposure and HAuNS (or HAuNS-PEG) concentration. The lowest cell survival occurred in the concentration of 250 μg/ml of nanostructures and an exposure dose of 9 min (P<0.05). Conclusion: the HAuNS-PEG significantly reduced its conductivity that leads to decreased plasmonic photothermal effect. Additionally, using an incoherent light with more spectral overlap for irradiating the nanostructures increased its thermal effects.