Study Of In Vitro Toxicity Of Glucose Capped Gold nanoparticles In Malignant And Normal Cell Lines

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are potential candidates for targeted drug delivery, imaging and early detection of cancer cells due to their ability to bind with cancer cells. To ensure their safe use in various possible biomedical applications, it is essential to examine the cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of AuNPs before use. The present work aims to study the cytotoxicity of glucose capped gold nanoparticles (Glu-AuNPs) in several cell lines (HeLa, A549, Jurkat, L929 and HUVEC). The synthesized GluAuNPs, using β-D glucose as reducing as well as capping agent, were characterized by SPR and TEM/EDAX analysis. Internalization of Glu-AuNPs in cells was studied by cross sectional TEM imaging. The cytotoxicity of Glu-AuNPs was evaluated by means of colony formation and MTT assays. The present study reveals that Glu-AuNPs (72 nm diameter) are non-toxic to the above-mentioned five cell lines, which are cancerous cell lines except HUVEC. Therefore Glu-AuNPs (around 7nm) can be explored for various bio-medical applications and can be of importance for therapeutic applications as evident from enhancement in radiosensitization from our previous work. Copyright © 2013 VBRI press.