Size and shape-dependent cytotoxicity profile of gold nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Abstract

Metallic nanoparticles, in particular gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), offer a wide spectrum of applications in biomedicine. A crucial issue is their cytotoxicity, which depends greatly on various factors, including morphology of nanoparticles. Because metallic nanoparticles have an effect on cell membrane integrity, their shape and size may affect the viability of cells, due to their different geometries as well as physical and chemical interactions with cell membranes. Variations in the size and shape of gold nanoparticles may indicate particular nanoparticle morphologies that provide strong cytotoxicity effects. Synthesis of different sized and shaped bare AuNPs was performed with spherical (~ 10 nm), nanoflowers (~ 370 nm), nanorods (~ 41 nm), nanoprisms (~ 160 nm) and nanostars (~ 240 nm) morphologies. These nanostructures were characterized and interacting with cancer (HeLa) and normal (HEK293T) cell lines and cell viability tests were performed by WST-1 tests and fluorescent live/dead cell imaging experiments. It was shown that various shapes and sizes of gold nanostructures may affect the viability of the cells. Gold nanospheres and nanorods proved to be more toxic than star, flower and prism gold nanostructures. This may be attributed to their small size and aggregation process. This is the first report concerning a comparison of cytotoxic profile in vitro with a wide spectrum of bare AuNPs morphology. The findings show their possible use in biomedical applications.

Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Citrus macroptera Fruit Extract: Anti‐Biofilm and Anticancer Activity

“…One hypothesis is that the increasing cytotoxicity is the increasing process of aggregation of nanoparticles in the ionic and protein medium in a dose dependent manner. This hypothesis is supported by the other authors’ findings that the particles are prone to aggregate/cluster inside the cell . They made conclusion that the viability of cell is greatly affected by the harmful effect of the aggregation of nanoparticles ,.…”

“…On the other hand the IC50 value of Chitosan stabilized AuNPs was reported to be 75 ng/ml in 24 h exposure against MCF 7 cell lines . Tannic acid stabilized gold nanosphere reported to have IC50 value 20ng/ml . Thus, the cytotoxic values are greatly varied with the surface chemistry of particles and the type of cells used for the study.…”

“…[26] The cytotoxicity of Au-NPs depends on various factors but most important factor is morphology. [49][50][51][52][53] Nanosphere shape particles are more toxic than other shapes. [49][50][51] Our synthesized particles are mostly spherical in nature (96.57%) with diameter in the range of 7 to 25 nm.…”

Cytotoxic and Antiproliferative Effects of Nanomaterials on Cancer Cell Lines: A Review

“…AuNPs exert in vitro cytotoxicity on several human cancer cell lines including cervical (HeLa), prostate (PC-3), hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) [3,[36][37][38]. Wozniak, et al proved that spherical and rod-shaped AuNPs are more efficient than other shapes in reducing cell proliferation of cancer cells in vitro [36].…”

“…Wozniak, et al proved that spherical and rod-shaped AuNPs are more efficient than other shapes in reducing cell proliferation of cancer cells in vitro [36]. Positively charged naked AuNPs interact with negatively charged cell membranes, increasing cellular uptake, preferably with smaller diameter particles rather than larger ones [37].…”