Biocompatibility of Bare Nanoparticles Based on Silicon and Gold for Nervous Cells

Abstract

This work aimed to investigate the biocompatibility of bare (ligand-free) lasersynthesized nanoparticles (NPs) based on silicon (Si) and gold (Au) with primary hippocampal cultures. 1%, 5% and 7% of culture medium were replaced by 0.1 mg/mL NP solution on day 14 of culture development in vitro. Our studies revealed that the NPs caused a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect, which was manifested by an increase the number of dead cells and a decrease of the spontaneous functional calcium activity of neural networks. Au NPs revealed less pronounced cytotoxic effect than Si ones and it can be explained by larger size and better solubility of Si NPs.

Investigation on the non-linear behaviour of silicon nanowires and assessment of the biosensing potential

“…Suh et al demonstrated that TiO 2 nanoparticles tends to be less hazardous to organisms than silica [44]. Mishchenko et al [45] studied the biocompatibility of Si and Au nanoparticles with primary hippocampal cultures. Dose dependent cytotoxic effect was found for both Si and Au nanoparticles but Au nanoparticles exhibited less pronounced cytotoxic effects [45].…”

“…Mishchenko et al [45] studied the biocompatibility of Si and Au nanoparticles with primary hippocampal cultures. Dose dependent cytotoxic effect was found for both Si and Au nanoparticles but Au nanoparticles exhibited less pronounced cytotoxic effects [45]. It should be acknowledged that Si based nanomaterials may not be the best choice for biomedical applications considering biocompatibility and safety.…”