The impact of surface ligands and synthesis method on the toxicity of glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles

Bryan Harper; Federico Sinche; Rosina Ho Wu; Meenambika Gowrishankar; Grant Marquart; Marilyn Mackiewicz; Stacey L. Harper

doi:10.3390/nano4020355

The impact of surface ligands and synthesis method on the toxicity of glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles

Bryan Harper, Federico Sinche, Rosina Ho Wu, Meenambika Gowrishankar, Grant Marquart, Marilyn Mackiewicz, Stacey L. Harper

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are increasingly used in biomedical applications, hence understanding the processes that affect their biocompatibility and stability are of significant interest. In this study, we assessed the stability of peptide-capped AuNPs and used the embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a vertebrate system to investigate the impact of synthesis method and purity on their biocompatibility. Using glutathione (GSH) as a stabilizer, Au-GSH nanoparticles with identical core sizes were terminally modified with Tryptophan (Trp), Histidine (His) or Methionine (Met) amino acids and purified by either dialysis or ultracentrifugation. Au-GSH-(Trp)₂ purified by dialysis elicited significant morbidity and mortality at 200 µg/mL, Au-GSH-(His)₂ induced morbidity and mortality after purification by either method at 20 and 200 µg/mL, and Au-GSH-(Met)₂ caused only sublethal responses at 200 µg/mL. Overall, toxicity was significantly reduced and ligand structure was improved by implementing ultracentrifugation purifications at several stages during the multi-step synthesis and surface modification of Au-GSH nanoparticles. When carefully synthesized at high purity, peptide-functionalized AuNPs showed high biocompatibility in biological systems.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	355-371
Number of pages	17
Journal	Nanomaterials
Volume	4
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/nano4020355
State	Published - Jun 2014
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We thank the staff of Sinnhuber Aquatic Research Laboratory for providing the embryos used in these studies. These studies were supported with funding from #ES017552-01A2; #P30ES03850; #ES0166896-01; #FA8650-05-1-15041; #P30E5000210. The Mackiewicz research group will also like to thank the Oregon Health and Science University Medical Research Foundation for their support.

Funders	Funder number
Oregon Health and Science University Medical Research Foundation

Keywords

Biocompatibility
Glutathione
Gold
Nanoparticle
Nanotoxicity
Purity
Synthesis
Zebrafish

Access to Document

10.3390/nano4020355

Cite this

@article{d7521856fcae4087bff1c94dc10e1dd1,

title = "The impact of surface ligands and synthesis method on the toxicity of glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles",

abstract = "Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are increasingly used in biomedical applications, hence understanding the processes that affect their biocompatibility and stability are of significant interest. In this study, we assessed the stability of peptide-capped AuNPs and used the embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a vertebrate system to investigate the impact of synthesis method and purity on their biocompatibility. Using glutathione (GSH) as a stabilizer, Au-GSH nanoparticles with identical core sizes were terminally modified with Tryptophan (Trp), Histidine (His) or Methionine (Met) amino acids and purified by either dialysis or ultracentrifugation. Au-GSH-(Trp)2 purified by dialysis elicited significant morbidity and mortality at 200 µg/mL, Au-GSH-(His)2 induced morbidity and mortality after purification by either method at 20 and 200 µg/mL, and Au-GSH-(Met)2 caused only sublethal responses at 200 µg/mL. Overall, toxicity was significantly reduced and ligand structure was improved by implementing ultracentrifugation purifications at several stages during the multi-step synthesis and surface modification of Au-GSH nanoparticles. When carefully synthesized at high purity, peptide-functionalized AuNPs showed high biocompatibility in biological systems.",

keywords = "Biocompatibility, Glutathione, Gold, Nanoparticle, Nanotoxicity, Purity, Synthesis, Zebrafish",

author = "Bryan Harper and Federico Sinche and Wu, {Rosina Ho} and Meenambika Gowrishankar and Grant Marquart and Marilyn Mackiewicz and Harper, {Stacey L.}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

year = "2014",

month = jun,

doi = "10.3390/nano4020355",

language = "English",

volume = "4",

pages = "355--371",

journal = "Nanomaterials",

issn = "2079-4991",

publisher = "MDPI",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The impact of surface ligands and synthesis method on the toxicity of glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles

AU - Harper, Bryan

AU - Sinche, Federico

AU - Wu, Rosina Ho

AU - Gowrishankar, Meenambika

AU - Marquart, Grant

AU - Mackiewicz, Marilyn

AU - Harper, Stacey L.

PY - 2014/6

Y1 - 2014/6

N2 - Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are increasingly used in biomedical applications, hence understanding the processes that affect their biocompatibility and stability are of significant interest. In this study, we assessed the stability of peptide-capped AuNPs and used the embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a vertebrate system to investigate the impact of synthesis method and purity on their biocompatibility. Using glutathione (GSH) as a stabilizer, Au-GSH nanoparticles with identical core sizes were terminally modified with Tryptophan (Trp), Histidine (His) or Methionine (Met) amino acids and purified by either dialysis or ultracentrifugation. Au-GSH-(Trp)2 purified by dialysis elicited significant morbidity and mortality at 200 µg/mL, Au-GSH-(His)2 induced morbidity and mortality after purification by either method at 20 and 200 µg/mL, and Au-GSH-(Met)2 caused only sublethal responses at 200 µg/mL. Overall, toxicity was significantly reduced and ligand structure was improved by implementing ultracentrifugation purifications at several stages during the multi-step synthesis and surface modification of Au-GSH nanoparticles. When carefully synthesized at high purity, peptide-functionalized AuNPs showed high biocompatibility in biological systems.

AB - Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are increasingly used in biomedical applications, hence understanding the processes that affect their biocompatibility and stability are of significant interest. In this study, we assessed the stability of peptide-capped AuNPs and used the embryonic zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a vertebrate system to investigate the impact of synthesis method and purity on their biocompatibility. Using glutathione (GSH) as a stabilizer, Au-GSH nanoparticles with identical core sizes were terminally modified with Tryptophan (Trp), Histidine (His) or Methionine (Met) amino acids and purified by either dialysis or ultracentrifugation. Au-GSH-(Trp)2 purified by dialysis elicited significant morbidity and mortality at 200 µg/mL, Au-GSH-(His)2 induced morbidity and mortality after purification by either method at 20 and 200 µg/mL, and Au-GSH-(Met)2 caused only sublethal responses at 200 µg/mL. Overall, toxicity was significantly reduced and ligand structure was improved by implementing ultracentrifugation purifications at several stages during the multi-step synthesis and surface modification of Au-GSH nanoparticles. When carefully synthesized at high purity, peptide-functionalized AuNPs showed high biocompatibility in biological systems.

KW - Biocompatibility

KW - Glutathione

KW - Gold

KW - Nanoparticle

KW - Nanotoxicity

KW - Purity

KW - Synthesis

KW - Zebrafish

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901477511&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/nano4020355

DO - 10.3390/nano4020355

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84901477511

SN - 2079-4991

VL - 4

SP - 355

EP - 371

JO - Nanomaterials

JF - Nanomaterials

IS - 2

ER -

The impact of surface ligands and synthesis method on the toxicity of glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this