Systematic and mechanistic analysis of AuNP-induced nanotoxicity for risk assessment of nanomedicine

Abstract

For decades, nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely implemented in various biomedical fields due to their unique optical, thermal, and tunable properties. Particularly, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have opened new frontiers in sensing, targeted drug delivery, imaging, and photodynamic therapy, showing promising results for the treatment of various intractable diseases that affect quality of life and longevity. Despite the tremendous achievements of AuNPs-based approaches in biomedical applications, few AuNP-based nanomedicines have been evaluated in clinical trials, which is likely due to a shortage of understanding of the biological and pathological effects of AuNPs. The biological fate of AuNPs is tightly related to a variety of physicochemical parameters including size, shape, chemical structure of ligands, charge, and protein corona, and therefore evaluating the effects of these parameters on specific biological interactions is a major ongoing challenge. Therefore, this review focuses on ongoing nanotoxicology studies that aim to characterize the effect of various AuNP characteristics on AuNP-induced toxicity. Specifically, we focus on understanding how each parameter alters the specific biological interactions of AuNPs via mechanistic analysis of nano-bio interactions. We also discuss different cellular functions affected by AuNP treatment (e.g., cell motility, ROS generation, interaction with DNA, and immune response) to understand their potential human health risks. The information discussed herein could contribute to the safe usage of nanomedicine by providing a basis for appropriate risk assessment and for the development of nano-QSAR models.

Second Near‐Infrared Activatable Nitric Oxide Releasing Nanoactuators for Photothermal Combinational Modulation of Epileptogenic Focus

“…The cell viability remained above 80% after incubating with various PDA-coated AuNPs at the concentration of 125 μg mL À1 (Figure 4c), suggesting minimal AuNPs-induced nanotoxicity. [44] Similar results were found in C6 and GL261 glioma cells (Figure S7, Supporting Information), further confirming the excellent cytocompatibility of the as-prepared nanoactuator. NO per se can directly induce cell apoptosis or sensitize cells to noxious insults.…”

Exploiting targeted nanomedicine for surveillance, diagnosis, and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

“…The small particle size, special morphology, high specific surface area, complex compositions and surface functions of nanomaterials make them inevitably distribute and accumulate in the normal tissues, eventually leading to body toxicity [ 147 ]. The nanomaterials-induced toxicity mechanisms include inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, necrosis, and genetic toxicity, etc [ [148] , [149] , [150] ].…”

Monodispersed Mesoscopic Star-Shaped Gold Particles via Silver Ion-assisted Multi-directional Growth for Highly Sensitive SERS-active Substrates

“…The enhanced localized eld effect is prominent at the sharp edges and tips of the anisotropic NPs [5][6][7][8]. Given their unique optical properties, AuNPs are widely applied to bioanalysis [9,10], molecular imaging [11], photodynamic therapy [12], drug delivery [13], biomedical applications [14], and biosensors [15][16][17] based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Among these, SERS-based nanobiosensors offer several advantages, including the ability to detect analytes at the single-particle level, analyze extremely small sample volumes, and achieve high sensitivity and speci city.…”