Effect of Gold Nanorod Surface Chemistry on Cellular Response

Abstract

Recently gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) have shown promising biological and military applications due to their unique electronic and optical properties. However, little is known about their biocompatibility in the event that they come into contact with a biological system. In the present study, we have investigated whether modulating the surface charge of 1.5 nm Au NPs induced changes in cellular morphology, mitochondrial function, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), intracellular calcium levels, DNA damage-related gene expression, and of p53 and caspase-3 expression levels after exposure in a human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT). The evaluation of three different Au NPs (positively charged, neutral, and negatively charged) showed that cell morphology was disrupted by all three NPs and that they demonstrated a dose-dependent toxicity; the charged Au NPs displayed toxicity as early as 10 g/ml and the neutral at 25 g/ml. Furthermore, there was significant mitochondrial stress (decreases in MMP and intracellular Ca++ levels) following exposure to the charged Au NPs, but not the neutral Au NPs. In addition to the differences observed in the MMP and Ca++ levels, up or down regulation of DNA damage related gene expression suggested a differential cell death mechanism based on whether or not the Au NPs were charged or neutral. Additionally, increased nuclear localization of p53 and caspase-3 expression were observed in cells exposed to the charged Au NPs, while the neutral Au NPs caused an increase in both nuclear and cytoplasmic p53 expression. In conclusion, these results indicate that surface charge is a major determinant of how Au NPs impact cellular processes, with the charged NPs inducing cell death through apoptosis and neutral NPs leading to necrosis.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 15, 2011
Accession Number
ADA540292

Entities

People

  • Andy Wijaya
  • Christin Grabinski
  • Helen D'couto
  • Kimberly Hamad-schifferli
  • Nicole Schaeublin
  • Saber M. Hussain
  • Salmaan H. Baxamusa

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Apoptosis
  • Azo Compounds
  • Cell Movement
  • Cell Physiological Processes
  • Cells
  • Chain Reactions
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Gene Expression
  • Inflammation
  • Macromolecules
  • Microscopes
  • Military Research
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Surface Chemistry

Readers

  • Breast cancer cell signaling and growth regulation.
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Toxicology/Environmental Toxicology

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Microelectronics