Chitosan-mediated facile green synthesis of size-controllable gold nanostars for effective photothermal therapy and photoacoustic imaging

• Published in: European polymer journal Vol. 118; pp. 492 - 501
• Main Authors: Phan, Thi Tuong Vy, Nguyen, Van Tu, Ahn, Seok-Hwan, Oh, Junghwan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2019; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; Biomedical materials; Biotechnology; Chemical synthesis; Chitosan; Gold; Gold nanostars; Green synthesis; Infrared absorption; Nanoparticles; Near infrared radiation; Photoacoustic imaging; Photothermal therapy; Stabilizers (agents); Studies; Therapy; Photothermal therapy; Gold nanostars; Green synthesis; Chitosan; Photoacoustic imaging
• ISSN: 0014-3057; 1873-1945
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2019.06.023

[Display omitted] •AuNS was successfully synthesized by the newly developed one-step, green, and cheap method.•Chitosan works as a stabilizer, shape-directing, and size-controllable agents for the preparation of AuNS.•AuNS has excellent biocompatibility toward non-cancerous cell line (MG63) and cancerous cell line (MDA-MB-231).•AuNS acts as a near-infrared (NIR) photoabsorber for photothermal therapy and an imaging agent for photoacoustic imaging. With the large near-infrared (NIR) absorption and the high NIR photothermal effect, gold nanostar (AuNS) has potential application in the biomedical field. However, the complicated synthesis process with toxic precursors is a serious issue for its practice. Herein, we reported a novel green synthesis procedure using chitosan polymer from marine and vitamin C for the preparation of AuNS. For the first time, chitosan was used as a stabilizer, shape-directing, and size-controllable agents for the preparation of AuNS. The size of the obtained AuNS ranged from 111 to 225 nm with different λmax. The AuNS exhibited near-infrared absorption with the excellent biocompatibility toward non-cancerous cell line (MG63) and cancerous cell line (MDA-MB-231). The in vitro photothermal therapy and photoacoustic imaging with assisting of obtained AuNS were also proved the high efficiency of these nanoparticles.