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Updated: May 21, 2026
Preparation and Photoacoustic Analysis of Cellular Vehicles Containing Gold Nanorods
Published on: May 2, 2016
Neoplastic cell response to tiopronin-coated gold nanoparticles
Lei Cui1, Payam Zahedi, Justin Saraceno
1Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract:
The present study characterized the in vitro biological response of a comprehensive set of cancer cell lines to gold nanoparticles (2.7 nm) coated with tiopronin (AuNPs-TP). Our findings suggest that upon entering cells, the AuNPs-TP are sequestered in vacuoles such as endosomes and lysosomes, and mostly localize in perinuclear areas. Peak cell accumulation was achieved at 8 hours after incubation. L929 and H520 cells showed more than 75% surviving fraction when treated with 0.5 mg/mL of AuNPs-TP for 24 hours, whereas the surviving fractions were 60% in MCF-7 and 20% in HeLa cells. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by the AuNPs-TP was dependent on cell line and exposure time. Antioxidants inhibited ROS generation to various extents, with glutathione and tiopronin being most effective. Overall, exposure time, concentration of the AuNPs-TP, and cell line influenced neoplastic cell response. Furthermore, the mechanism of cytotoxicity of the AuNPs-TP was found to be ROS generation.
From The Clinical Editor:
This study describes the basic intracellular characteristics of Tiopronin-Au nanoparticles from the standpoint of their anti-cancer activity in different cancer cell cultures.
