Safety of Gold Nanoparticles: From In Vitro to In Vivo Testing Array Checklist.

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) possess unique optical and physicochemical properties.
• AuNPs show potential in diagnostics and therapy, especially for cancer treatment via thermal ablation.
• Ensuring the safety of AuNPs is critical for their clinical translation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To produce and characterize AuNPs coated with hyaluronic and oleic acids (HAOA) or bovine serum albumin (BSA).
• To evaluate the in vitro and in vivo biosafety of these developed AuNPs.
• To assess the potential of these AuNPs for biomedical applications.

Main Methods:

• Physicochemical characterization and morphological analysis of HAOA-AuNPs and BSA-AuNPs.
• In vitro cytotoxicity assays on healthy keratinocytes and various cancer cell lines (melanoma, breast, pancreatic, glioblastoma).
• In vitro and ex vivo biosafety tests using a 3D skin model, human red blood cells, and Artemia salina.
• In vivo acute toxicity and biodistribution studies of HAOA-AuNPs in Balb/c mice.

Main Results:

• Comprehensive characterization of HAOA-AuNPs and BSA-AuNPs was performed.
• Developed AuNPs exhibited no significant toxicity in vitro across healthy and cancer cells.
• Ex vivo and in vivo studies, including histopathological analysis, confirmed the biosafety of the tested AuNP formulations.
• HAOA-AuNPs showed favorable biodistribution in mice.

Conclusions:

• The developed HAOA-AuNPs and BSA-AuNPs are well-characterized and demonstrate a strong safety profile.
• These findings support the further investigation and application of these AuNPs in various biomedical fields.
• The study provides a robust safety evaluation framework for nanoparticle-based therapeutics.