Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) is used to find the structural differences between cancerous breast cells (MCF-7 line) and normal breast cells (MCF-12F line). Gold nanoparticles were prepared and the hydrodynamic diameter of the gold nanoparticles found to be 38.45 nm. The Gold nanoparticles were exposed to both MCF-7 and MCF-12F cells from lower to higher concentrations. Spectroscopic studies founds nanoparticles were within the cells, and increasing the nanoparticles concentration inside the cells also resulted in sharper IR peaks as a result of localized surface Plasmon resonance. Asymmetric and symmetric stretching and bending vibrations between phosphate, COO-, CH2 groups were found to give negative shifts in wavenumbers and a decrease in peak intensities when going from noncancerous to cancerous cells. Cellular proteins produced peak assignments at the 1542 and 1644 cm(-1) wavenumbers which were attributed to the amide I and amide II bands of the polypeptide bond of proteins. Significant changes were found in the peak intensities between the cell lines in the spectrum range from 2854-2956 cm(-1). Results show that the concentration range of gold nanoparticles used in this research showed no significant changes in cell viability in either cell line. Therefore, we believe ATR-FTIR and gold nanotechnology can be at the forefront of cancer diagnosis for some time to come.

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