Effect of Gold Nanorod Surface Chemistry on Cellular Response

• Published in: ACS nano 2011-04, Vol.5 (4), p.2870-2879
• Main Authors: Grabinski, Christin, Schaeublin, Nicole, Wijaya, Andy, D’Couto, Helen, Baxamusa, Salmaan H, Hamad-Schifferli, Kimberly, Hussain, Saber M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/nn103476x

Gold nanorods (GNRs) stabilized with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and GNR functionalized via a ligand exchange method with either thiolated polyethylene glycol (PEG5000) or mercaptohexadecanoic acid (MHDA) were investigated for their stability in biological media and subsequent toxicological effects to HaCaT cells. GNR-PEG and GNR-MHDA exhibited minimal effects on cell proliferation, whereas GNR-CTAB reduced cell proliferation significantly due to the inherent toxicity of the cationic surfactant to cells. Cell uptake studies indicated relatively low uptake for GNR-PEG and high uptake for GNR-MHDA. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) revealed that GNR-PEG induced less significant and unique changes in the transcription levels of 84 genes related to stress and toxicity compared to GNR-MHDA. The results demonstrate that, although cell proliferation was not affected by both particles, there is a significant difference in gene expression in GNR-MHDA exposed cells, suggesting long-term implications for chronic exposure.