Bioproduction of gold nanoparticles for photothermal therapy. (May 2016) - Silva, Catarina Oliveira
Background: Photothermal response of plasmonic nanomaterials can be utilized for a number of therapeutic applications such as the ablation of solid tumors.Methods & results: Gold nanoparticles were prepared using different methods. After optimization, we applied an aqueous plant extract as the reducing and capping agent of gold and maximized the near-infrared absorption (650–900 nm). Resultant nanoparticles showed good biocompatibility when tested in vitro in human keratinocytes and yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Gold nanoparticles were easily activated by controlled temperature with an ultrasonic water bath and application of a pulsed laser.Conclusion: These gold nanoparticles can be synthesized with reproducibility, modified with seemingly limitless chemical functional groups, with adequate controlled optical properties for laser phototherapy of tumors and targeted drug delivery.