Safety of Gold Nanoparticles: From In Vitro to In Vivo Testing Array Checklist
Joana Lopes,
Tânia Ferreira-Gonçalves,
Lia Ascensão,
Ana S. Viana,
Lina Carvalho,
José Catarino,
Pedro Faísca,
Abel Oliva,
Dragana P. C. de Barros,
Cecília M. P. Rodrigues,
Maria Manuela Gaspar,
Catarina Pinto Reis
Affiliations
Joana Lopes
Research Institute for Medicines, iMed.ULisboa—Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Professor Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Tânia Ferreira-Gonçalves
Research Institute for Medicines, iMed.ULisboa—Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Professor Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Lia Ascensão
Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar (CESAM Lisboa), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
Ana S. Viana
Centro de Química Estrutural, Institute of Molecular Sciences, Departamento de Química e Bioquímica, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
Lina Carvalho
Central Testing Laboratory, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
José Catarino
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal
Pedro Faísca
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal
Abel Oliva
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal
Dragana P. C. de Barros
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal
Cecília M. P. Rodrigues
Research Institute for Medicines, iMed.ULisboa—Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Professor Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Maria Manuela Gaspar
Research Institute for Medicines, iMed.ULisboa—Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Professor Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Catarina Pinto Reis
Research Institute for Medicines, iMed.ULisboa—Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Professor Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
In recent years, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have aroused the interest of many researchers due to their unique physicochemical and optical properties. AuNPs are being explored in a variety of biomedical fields, either in diagnostics or therapy, particularly for localized thermal ablation of cancer cells after light irradiation. Besides the promising therapeutic potential of AuNPs, their safety constitutes a highly important issue for any medicine or medical device. For this reason, in the present work, the production and characterization of physicochemical properties and morphology of AuNPs coated with two different materials (hyaluronic and oleic acids (HAOA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA)) were firstly performed. Based on the above importantly referred issue, the in vitro safety of developed AuNPs was evaluated in healthy keratinocytes, human melanoma, breast, pancreatic and glioblastoma cancer cells, as well as in a three-dimensional human skin model. Ex vivo and in vivo biosafety assays using, respectively, human red blood cells and Artemia salina were also carried out. HAOA-AuNPs were selected for in vivo acute toxicity and biodistribution studies in healthy Balb/c mice. Histopathological analysis showed no significant signs of toxicity for the tested formulations. Overall, several techniques were developed in order to characterize the AuNPs and evaluate their safety. All these results support their use for biomedical applications.