Association of Glutathione Level and Cytotoxicity of Gold Nanoparticles in Lung Cancer Cells

作者：Zhao Yunxue; Gu Xiaohu; Ma Haizhang; He Xigan; Liu Min; Ding Yi^*

来源：Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2011, 115(26): 12797-12802.

DOI：10.1021/jp2025413

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were used to evaluate their cytotoxicity toward human lung cancer cells A549. No cell proliferation inhibition was found when the cells were treated by GNPs independently. However, when L-buthionine-sulfoximine (BSO) was used to decrease the expression of glutathione (GSH) in A549 cells, GNPs showed evident cytotoxicity to cells. Interestingly, the cytotoxicity of GNPs could be reversed after adding outside source GSH into the system. Whereas GSH plays an important role in eliminating reactive oxygen species (ROS), by monitoring the intracellular levels of ROS, GNPs were observed to generate more intracellular ROS in the presence of BSO. The cytotoxicity caused by GNPs toward lung cancer cells could therefore be partially attributed to the increase in intracellular ROS levels. These results suggest that caution should be paid in the use of GNPs for in vivo tests because GNPs can serve as therapeutic agents in their own right as well as carriers for other drugs and biomolecules.

• 出版日期2011-7-7
• 单位山东大学