Favi Pelagie Marlene, Gao Ming, Johana Sepúlveda Arango Liuda, Ospina Sandra Patricia, Morales Mariana, Pavon Juan Jose, Webster Thomas Jay
Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
J Biomed Mater Res A. 2015 Nov;103(11):3449-62. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.35491. Epub 2015 May 6.
Gold nanoparticles are materials with unique optical properties that have made them very attractive for numerous biomedical applications. With the increasing discovery of techniques to synthesize novel nanoparticles such as star-shaped gold nanoparticles for biomedical applications, the safety and performance of these new nanomaterials must be systematically assessed before use. In this study, gold nanostars (AuNSTs) with multibranched surface structures were synthesized, and their influence on the cytotoxicity of human skin fibroblasts and rat fat pad endothelial cells (RFPECs) were assessed and compared with that of gold nanospheres (AuNSPs) with unbranched surfaces. Results showed that the AuNSPs with diameters of approximately 61.46 nm showed greater toxicity with fibroblast cells and RFPECs compared with the synthesized AuNSTs with diameters of approximately 33.69 nm. The AuNSPs were lethal at concentrations of 40 μg/mL for both cell lines, whereas the AuNSTs were less toxic at higher concentrations (400 μg/mL). The calculated IC50 (50% inhibitory concentration) values of the AuNSPs exposed to fibroblast cells were greater at 1 and 4 days of culture (26.4 and 27.7 μg/mL, respectively) compared with the RFPECs (13.6 and 13.8 μg/mL, respectively), indicating that the AuNSPs have a greater toxicity to endothelial cells. It was proposed that possible factors that could be promoting the reduced toxicity effects of the AuNSTs to fibroblast cells and RFPECs, compared with the AuNSPs may be size, surface chemistry, and shape of the gold nanoparticles. The reduced cell toxicity observed with the AuNSTs suggests that AuNSTs may be a promising material for use in biomedical applications.
金纳米颗粒是具有独特光学性质的材料，这使得它们在众多生物医学应用中极具吸引力。随着用于生物医学应用的新型纳米颗粒（如星形金纳米颗粒）合成技术的不断发现，这些新型纳米材料的安全性和性能在使用前必须进行系统评估。在本研究中，合成了具有多分支表面结构的金纳米星（AuNSTs），并评估了它们对人皮肤成纤维细胞和大鼠脂肪垫内皮细胞（RFPECs）细胞毒性的影响，并与具有无分支表面的金纳米球（AuNSPs）进行了比较。结果表明，直径约为61.46 nm的AuNSPs与直径约为33.69 nm的合成AuNSTs相比，对成纤维细胞和RFPECs表现出更大的毒性。两种细胞系在40μg/mL浓度下，AuNSPs均具有致死性，而AuNSTs在较高浓度（400μg/mL）下毒性较小。与RFPECs（分别为13.6和13.8μg/mL）相比，在培养1天和4天时，暴露于成纤维细胞的AuNSPs的计算IC50（50%抑制浓度）值更高（分别为26.4和27.7μg/mL），表明AuNSPs对内皮细胞具有更大的毒性。有人提出，与AuNSPs相比，可能促进AuNSTs对成纤维细胞和RFPECs毒性作用降低的因素可能是金纳米颗粒的尺寸、表面化学性质和形状。AuNSTs观察到的细胞毒性降低表明，AuNSTs可能是一种有前途的生物医学应用材料。
