Investigations on the interaction of gold-curcumin nanoparticles with human peripheral blood lymphocytes

The use of nano-particles in several areas necessitates the understanding of their interaction with cells, tissues and experimental animals. In the present study, the effect of a curcumin conjugated gold nano-particle on peripheral blood lymphocytes was investigated. The treated lymphocytes revealed features typical of apoptosis which include chromatin condensation, and membrane blebbing and occurrence of apoptotic bodies. The observations indicate that these nanoparticle conjugates may find use as drugs in non-toxic range observed in cytotoxicity studies.