Toxicity Evaluation of Coated Gold Nanorods on Zebrafish Embryos
Primary Faculty Mentor’s Name
John Stone
Proposal Track
Student
Session Format
Poster
Abstract
In the last decade gold nanoparticles’ use as targeting, imaging, and therapeutic agents has increased significantly. Gold’s properties on the nanoscale are attractive owing to their interesting optical properties, their relative non-cytotoxicity, and long-term stability. Gold nanorods are often prepared following a seed-mediated approach whereby gold salts are catalyzed by the addition of small gold spheres (seeds) in the presence of a weak reducing agent and the growth directing surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). In recent years, there has been a significant interest in the use of gold nanomaterials as potential therapeutic agents that address a wide range of medicinal concerns including cancer treatments, vaccine development, and pathogen destruction. However, the acute and chronic toxicities of these materials have not been fully studied and continue to be a concern among those in the nanoscience community. Zebrafish provide an attractive model system to study these effects with respect to toxicity as they closely model the human homology. In the current study, we have prepared 3 sets of gold nanorods coated with either cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, a polyelectrolyte (polyacrylic acid or polyallylamine hydrochloride), or porphyrin. These nanomaterials were then introduced at varying concentrations into a solution containing zebrafish embryos and their overall toxicity evaluated as measured by embryo morbidity and observed malformations. As expected the coated nanorods showed a dose-responsive profile with respect to toxicity. Specifically, gold nanorods coated with the charged polyelectrolytes or CTAB alone showed more toxicity and malformation than those coated with porphyrin. Additionally, treated embryos also demonstrated an increase in light sensitivity, an observation that we will follow experimentally. Experiments are ongoing to determine ideal concentrations and dose times for future therapeutic experiments. These experiments will include induced tumor formation followed by direct injection of these nanomaterials and subsequent near-infrared (NIR) irradiation to assess potential photothermal therapeutic properties.
Keywords
Gold Nanorods, Toxicity, Nano, Nanoparticles
Location
Concourse/Atrium
Presentation Year
2014
Start Date
11-15-2014 2:55 PM
End Date
11-15-2014 4:10 PM
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
McGlynn, Patrick, "Toxicity Evaluation of Coated Gold Nanorods on Zebrafish Embryos" (2014). Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference (2014-2015). 110.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gurc/2014/2014/110
Toxicity Evaluation of Coated Gold Nanorods on Zebrafish Embryos
Concourse/Atrium
In the last decade gold nanoparticles’ use as targeting, imaging, and therapeutic agents has increased significantly. Gold’s properties on the nanoscale are attractive owing to their interesting optical properties, their relative non-cytotoxicity, and long-term stability. Gold nanorods are often prepared following a seed-mediated approach whereby gold salts are catalyzed by the addition of small gold spheres (seeds) in the presence of a weak reducing agent and the growth directing surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). In recent years, there has been a significant interest in the use of gold nanomaterials as potential therapeutic agents that address a wide range of medicinal concerns including cancer treatments, vaccine development, and pathogen destruction. However, the acute and chronic toxicities of these materials have not been fully studied and continue to be a concern among those in the nanoscience community. Zebrafish provide an attractive model system to study these effects with respect to toxicity as they closely model the human homology. In the current study, we have prepared 3 sets of gold nanorods coated with either cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, a polyelectrolyte (polyacrylic acid or polyallylamine hydrochloride), or porphyrin. These nanomaterials were then introduced at varying concentrations into a solution containing zebrafish embryos and their overall toxicity evaluated as measured by embryo morbidity and observed malformations. As expected the coated nanorods showed a dose-responsive profile with respect to toxicity. Specifically, gold nanorods coated with the charged polyelectrolytes or CTAB alone showed more toxicity and malformation than those coated with porphyrin. Additionally, treated embryos also demonstrated an increase in light sensitivity, an observation that we will follow experimentally. Experiments are ongoing to determine ideal concentrations and dose times for future therapeutic experiments. These experiments will include induced tumor formation followed by direct injection of these nanomaterials and subsequent near-infrared (NIR) irradiation to assess potential photothermal therapeutic properties.
