Gold and nano-gold in medicine: overview, toxicology and perspectives

Abstract

Nano-technology has entered the field of medicine in recent decades and many of the nanomaterials developed have already had a high impact on health care. Among nanomaterials, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and gold quantum dots (QDs) are receiving significant attention because their unique physical, chemical and biological properties are quite different from the bulk of their counterparts. In this article, after a brief historical overview, the use of gold and nano-gold in medicine is reviewed, analyzed, and discussed. The review particularly deals with the use of GNPs and bio-conjugated GNPs in cancer treatment, drug or gene delivery, DNA detection, biomedical imaging including that of brain activity, enhancement of gene regulation, the detection of toxic metals, immuno-assays, disease detection and diagnostics, therapy and also the toxicity of gold and GNPs, etc. A number of novel applications of GNPs in medicine and perspectives of nano-gold use in medicine are also discussed.

Green synthesis and biological activities of gold nanoparticles functionalized with Salix alba

“…Furthermore, gold is usually prescribed for various joints pain conditions (Panyala et al, 2009). This added advantage along with its own potent analgesic and muscle relaxant properties compared to the leaves extract and diclofenac sodium, greatly promotes the use of Salix alba gold nanoparticles as replacement herbal therapy for the clinical management of different pain conditions.…”

Impact of gold nanoparticles on brain of mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni

“…GNPs have attracted great attention due to their unique electronic, optical, thermal, chemical, and biological properties and their potential catalytic applications in various fields such as biology, medicine, physics, chemistry, material science, and other interdisciplinary fields (Panyala et al 2009). Although physicochemical properties of nanoparticles are well studied, their biological properties largely remain unexplored (Saritha et al 2014).…”

Preparation of giant unilamellar CdTe quantum dot vesicles and their metabolic pathway in vivo

“…Previous reviews indicated that carbon nanotubes would produce lung damage and their toxicity was much stronger than the carbon black [2]. Nano-gold widely used in the immunoassay and molecular recognition has different levels of toxicological effects for organisms [3], and the toxicity of various forms of nano-crystalline TiO 2 to the lung was significantly different [4], which has been confirmed. Quantum dots (QDs) as a new inorganic material have offered such significant advantages as optical labels with high fluorescence quantum yields, stability against photobleaching, and narrow-symmetrical emission spectrum, which has potential value in cell imaging, tumor markers, ion detection and bio-molecular interaction research [5][6][7].…”