Assessing the Intracellular Integrity of Phosphine-Stabilized Ultrasmall Cytotoxic Gold Nanoparticles Enabled by Fluorescence Labeling.

As the size of nanoparticles (NPs) is in the range of biological molecules and subcellular structures, they provide new perspectives in biomedicine. This work presents studies concerning the cellular uptake and distribution of phosphine-stabilized cytotoxic 1.4 nm sized AuNPs and their probable degradation during this process. Therefore, ultrasmall phosphine-stabilized AuNPs are modified by linking a fluorophore covalently to the ligand shell. Monitoring the fluorescence on a cellular level by means of flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy allows determining the fate of the ligand shell during AuNP cell internalization, due to the fact that the fluorescence of a fluorophore bound near to the AuNP surface is quenched. Cell fractionation is conducted in order to quantify the AuNP content at the cell membrane, in the cytoplasm, and the cell nucleus. The incubation of cells with the fluorophore-modified AuNPs reveals a partial loss of the ligand shell upon AuNP cell interaction, evident by the emerging fluorescence signal. This loss is the precondition to unfold high AuNP cytotoxicity. Together with their significantly different biodistribution and enhanced circulation times compared to larger AuNPs, the findings demonstrate the high potential of ultrasmall AuNPs for drug development or therapy.

Ligand-lipid and ligand-core affinity control the interaction of gold nanoparticles with artificial lipid bilayers and cell membranes.

UNLABELLED: Interactions between nanoparticles (NPs) and biomembranes depend on the physicochemical properties of the NPs, such as size and surface charge. Here we report on the size-dependent interaction of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), stabilized with ligands differing in charge, i.e. sodium 3-(diphenylphosphino)benzene sulfonate (TPPMS) and sodium 3,3',3″-triphenylphosphine sulfonate (TPPTS), respectively, with artificial membranes (black lipid membranes; BLMs) and HeLa cells. The TPPTS-stabilized AuNPs affect BLMs at lower size than TPPMS-stabilized ones. On HeLa cells we found decreasing cytotoxicity with increasing particle size, however, with an overall lower cytotoxicity for TPPTS-stabilized AuNPs. We attribute size-dependent BLM properties as well as reduced cytotoxicity of TPPTS-stabilized AuNPs to weaker shielding of the AuNP core when stabilized with TPPTS. We hypothesize that the partially unshielded hydrophobic gold core can embed into the hydrophobic membrane interior. Thereby we demonstrate that ligand-dependent cytotoxicity of NP can occur even when the NPs are not translocated through the membrane. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: The use of nanoparticles (NPs) in the clinical setting means that there will be interactions between NPs and cell membranes. The authors investigated the underlying processes concerning cellular uptake and potential toxicity of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using particles with ligands different sizes and charges. The findings should further enhance existing knowledge on future design of safer NPs in the clinic.

Cytotoxicity of Ultrasmall Gold Nanoparticles on Planktonic and Biofilm Encapsulated Gram-Positive Staphylococci.

The emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria, especially biofilm-associated Staphylococci, urgently requires novel antimicrobial agents. The antibacterial activity of ultrasmall gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is tested against two gram positive: S. aureus and S. epidermidis and two gram negative: Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. Ultrasmall AuNPs with core diameters of 0.8 and 1.4 nm and a triphenylphosphine-monosulfonate shell (Au0.8MS and Au1.4MS) both have minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration of 25 × 10(-6) m [Au]. Disc agar diffusion test demonstrates greater bactericidal activity of the Au0.8MS nanoparticles over Au1.4MS. In contrast, thiol-stabilized AuNPs with a diameter of 1.9 nm (AuroVist) cause no significant toxicity in any of the bacterial strains. Ultrasmall AuNPs cause a near 5 log bacterial growth reduction in the first 5 h of exposure, and incomplete recovery after 21 h. Bacteria show marked membrane blebbing and lysis in biofilm-associated bacteria treated with ultrasmall AuNP. Importantly, a twofold MIC dosage of Au0.8MS and Au1.4MS each cause around 80%-90% reduction in the viability of Staphylococci enveloped in biofilms. Altogether, this study demonstrates potential therapeutic activity of ultrasmall AuNPs as an effective treatment option against staphylococcal infections.

In Vivo Nanotoxicity Testing using the Zebrafish Embryo Assay.

Nanoparticles are increasingly used for biomedical purposes. Many different diagnostic and therapeutic applications are envisioned for nanoparticles, but there are often also serious concerns regarding their safety. Given the fact that numerous new nanomaterials are being developed every day, and that not much is known about the long-term toxicological impact of exposure to nanoparticles, there is an urgent need to establish efficient methods for nanotoxicity testing. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo assay has recently emerged as an interesting 'intermediate' method for in vivo nanotoxicity screening, enabling (semi-) high-throughput analyses in a system significantly more complex than cultured cells, but at the same time also less 'invasive' and less expensive than large-scale biocompatibility studies in mice or rats. The zebrafish embryo assay is relatively well-established in the environmental sciences, but it has not yet gained wide notice in the nanomedicine field. Using prototypic polymeric drug carriers, gold-based nanodiagnostics and nanotherapeutics, and iron oxide-based nanodiagnostics, we here show that toxicity testing using zebrafish embryos is easy, efficient and informative, and faithfully reflects, yet significantly extends, cell-based toxicity testing. We therefore expect that the zebrafish embryo assay will become a popular future tool for in vivo nanotoxicity screening.

High-sensitivity real-time analysis of nanoparticle toxicity in green fluorescent protein-expressing zebrafish.

Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) show great potential for diagnostic and therapeutic application in humans. A great number of studies have tested the cytotoxicity of AuNP using cell culture. There is, however, an urgent need to test AuNP in vertebrate animal models that interrogate biodistribution and complex biological traits like organ development, whole body metabolism, and cognitive function. The sheer number of different compounds precludes the use of small rodent model for initial screening. The extended fish embryo test (FET) is used here to bridge the gap between cell culture and small animal models. A study on the toxicity of ultrasmall AuNP in wild type and transgenic zebrafish is presented. FET faithfully reproduce all important findings of a previous study in HeLa cells and add new important information on teratogenicity and hepatotoxicity that could not be gained from studying cultured cells.