Gold nanorods–trypsin biocorona: a novel nano composite for in vitro cytotoxic activity towards MCF-7 and A-549 cancer cells

Abstract

In the present work, we have synthesized cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) capped gold nanorods (Au NRs) to evaluate apparent binding affinities for the adsorption of trypsin (TRP). The interaction between TRP and Au NRs is explained elaborately using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), surface charge distributions and EDAX spectroscopy. The results from the emission spectral measurements explored the existence of strong binding between TRP and Au NRs and confirmed the complex formation via a static quenching process. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of Au NRs and the TRP–Au NR complex on human breast cancer (MCF-7) and lung cancer (A-549) was examined by the [3-((4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide)] MTT assay. Microscopic analysis of nuclear fragmentation studies validates the significant reduction of viability of TRP–Au NRs treated MCF-7 cells and A-549 cells through apoptotic-mediated pathways. These studies demonstrated that the TRP–Au NRs system displays an advanced level of cytotoxicity in cancer cells compared to Au NR-treated MCF-7 cells and A-549 cells.