Role of gold nanoparticles as drug delivery vehicles for chondroitin sulfate in the treatment of osteoarthritis

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is a disease which is characterized by joint pain, swelling and stiffness. Articular cartilage has limited self-repair capacity due to its avascular and aneural nature. In this work, we show the use of gold nanoparticles (AuNps) for enhancing the delivery of chondroitin sulfate (CS), a drug used in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). AuNps were synthesized and were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-Ray diffraction analysis. AuNps were combined with CS (AuNps-CS) and their effect on primary goat chondrocytes was studied using MTT assay, Hoechst staining, production of glycosaminoglycan and collagen. Cell viability studies by MTT revealed that AuNps-CS stimulate cell proliferation. A two-fold increase in GAG and collagen production was observed in presence of AuNps-CS combination as compared to native CS, indicating that this combination stimulates chondrocyte proliferation and enhances extracellular matrix production (ECM). Hence, this study exhibits the potential of AuNps as a carrier of CS for treatment of osteoarthritis.

Gold Nanoparticles of Diameter 13 nm Induce Apoptosis in Rabbit Articular Chondrocytes

“…4 a, b). Dwivedi and coworkers found that 13 nm AuNPs combined with chondroitin sulfate induced the growth of chondrocytes and also enhanced the production of extracellular matrix components [ 24 ]. These data suggest that AuNPs with specific size have the potential ability to trigger chondrocyte growth.…”

“…The AuNPs size of our preparation is 3, 13, and 45 nm, respectively, just covering the size of 1–100 nm (Fig. 1 a), and AuNPs with this size range seem to have more practical significance [ 15 , 24 , 30 – 32 ]. Our data demonstrates that 13 nm AuNPs capped with citrate induce chondrocyte apoptosis, whereas 3 and 45 nm AuNPs are nontoxic in chondrocytes.…”

Effect of Flavonoid-Coated Gold Nanoparticles on Bacterial Colonization in Mice Organs

“…NPs stability and activity under physiological conditions are also a matter of interest as many factors can alter the inherent antibacterial activity of NPs, such as pH and temperature [ 25 ]. Besides, plasma proteins and plasma components can also interact with the NPs surface, and this can affect their biodistribution [ 26 , 27 , 28 ], cellular uptake, and bioactivity [ 29 , 30 , 31 ]. Recently, a few in vivo studies have been carried out that include combined therapy of silver NPs, and visible blue light against Pseudomonas [ 32 ], quercetin loaded PLGA for Escherichia coli [ 33 ], and tridecaptin-antibiotic conjugates against Klebsiella pneumoniae [ 34 ].…”

pH-responsive and hyaluronic acid-functionalized metal-organic frameworks for therapy of osteoarthritis

“…Recently, nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems, including metal nanoparticles [6], liposomes [7,8] and conventional micelles [8,9], have been introduced into OA therapeutics to prolong residence time of small drug molecules in joint cavity. However, these systems are always loaded with limited amounts of drugs and are not smart stimulus-responsive, which can hardly meet the requirement for OA therapy.…”