Biosynthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by Vascular Cells in vitro

Michael Kitching; Saikumar Inguva; Meghana Ramani; Yina Gao; Enrico Marsili; Paul Cahill

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.813511

Biosynthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by Vascular Cells in vitro

Front Microbiol. 2022 Apr 11:13:813511. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.813511. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Michael Kitching^{1

2}, Saikumar Inguva³, Meghana Ramani⁴, Yina Gao⁵, Enrico Marsili⁶, Paul Cahill²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral Immunology and Infectious Diseases, School of Dentistry, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, United States.
² Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Laboratory, School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
³ School of Physics, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
⁴ Nanotechnology Innovation Center of Kansas State, Department of Radiation Oncology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States.
⁵ Materials and Surface Science Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Abstract

Biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for antimicrobial and chemotherapeutic applications is a well-established process in microbial hosts such as bacterial, fungi, and plants. However, reports on AuNPs biosynthesis in mammalian cells are scarce. In this study, bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) and bovine aortic smooth muscle cells (BASMCs) were examined for their ability to synthesize AuNPs in vitro. Cell culture conditions such as buffer selection, serum concentration, and HAuCl₄ concentration were optimized before the biosynthesized AuNPs were characterized through visible spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. BAECs and BASMC produced small, spherical AuNPs that are semi-crystalline with a similar diameter (23 ± 2 nm and 23 ± 4 nm). Hydrogen peroxide pretreatment increased AuNPs synthesis, suggesting that antioxidant enzymes may reduce Au³⁺ ions as seen in microbial cells. However, buthionine sulfoximine inhibition of glutathione synthesis, a key regulator of oxidative stress, failed to affect AuNPs generation. Taken together, these results show that under the right synthesis conditions, non-tumor cell lines can produce detectable concentrations of AuNPs in vitro.

Keywords: biogenic nanoparticles; biosynthesis; gold nanoparticles; in vitro; vascular cell.