Biointeractions of ultrasmall glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles: effect of small size variations.

ABSTRACT: Recent in vivo studies have established ultrasmall (<3 nm) gold nanoparticles coated with glutathione (AuGSH) as a promising platform for applications in nanomedicine. However, systematic in vitro investigations to gain a more fundamental understanding of the particles' biointeractions are still lacking. Herein we examined the behavior of ultrasmall AuGSH in vitro, focusing on their ability to resist aggregation and adsorption from serum proteins. Despite having net negative charge, AuGSH particles were colloidally stable in biological media and able to resist binding from serum proteins, in agreement with the favorable bioresponses reported for AuGSH in vivo. However, our results revealed disparate behaviors depending on nanoparticle size: particles between 2 and 3 nm in core diameter wer

SUBMITTER: Sousa AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4805117 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature