Impact of Cationic Gold Nanoparticles on the Cytoskeleton of Human Cells

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) show promising involvement in improving bioimaging, drug delivery, and different types of therapy. However, the effect the particles have on the body has yet to be thoroughly investigated. Previous literature has shown many factors, including size, shape, concentration, and surface chemistry play a role when determining the cause of the toxicity in the human body. For instance, it was shown that aggregated poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) coated Au NPs at 1nM demonstrate to disrupt actin fibers in human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cells. Comparing the disruption of F-actin fibers to a well- known drug, Cytochalasin D, highlights the severity of the disturbance the HDF cell endures. By using two methods of adding the PAH AuNPs to the cell media, the effects of aggregated vs. non-aggregated PAH AuNPs is highlighted. In comparison to non-aggregated PAH NPs, aggregated particles cause more disruption on actin filaments cells, corroborating with previous results in the literature. Interestingly, free PAH polymers caused the most significant amount of cell death. Future studies should investigate the impact of AuNPs with different shapes, sizes, and surface chemistry on human cells for their safe application in the biomedical field.

Author
Kathy De La Torre
School
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department
Biochemistry
Research Advisor
Dr. Catherine Murphy
Department of Research Advisor
Chemistry
Year of Publication
2019