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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Long-term Culture of Human Breast Cancer Specimens and Their Analysis Using Optical Projection Tomography
Published on: July 29, 2011
Intracellular ROS Induction by Ag@ZnO Core-Shell Nanoparticles: Frontiers of Permanent Optically Active Holes in
Behnaz Ghaemi, Elnaz Shaabani, Roqya Najafi-Taher
1Centre for X-Ray Analytics, Department of Material Meet Life , Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology (Empa) , 9014 St. Gallen , Switzerland.
Abstract:
In this study, we investigated whether ZnO coating on Ag nanoparticles (NPs) tunes electron flux and hole figuration at the metal-semiconductor interface under UV radiation. This effect triggers the photoactivity and generation of reactive oxygen species from Ag@ZnO NPs, which results in enhanced cytotoxic effects and apoptotic cell death in human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB231). In this context, upregulation of apoptotic cascade proteins (i.e., Bax/Bcl2 association, p53, cytochrome c, and caspase-3) along with activation of oxidative stress proteins suggested the occurrence of apoptosis by Ag@ZnO NPs in cancer cells through the mitochondrial pathway. Also, preincubation of breast cancer cells with Ag@ZnO NPs in dark conditions muted NP-related toxic effects and consequent apoptotic fate, highlighting biocompatible properties of unexcited Ag@ZnO NPs. Furthermore, the diagnostic efficacy of Ag@ZnO NPs as computed tomography (CT)/optical nanoprobes was investigated. Results confirmed the efficacy of the photoactivated system in obtaining desirable outcomes from CT/optical imaging, which represents novel theranostic NPs for simultaneous imaging and treatment of cancer.
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