title: Conjugating folic acid to gold nanoparticles through glutathione for targeting and detecting cancer cells.
abstract: Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were modified with glutathione (GSH) to form GSH-capped GNPs, which have carboxyl groups on the surface of these nanoparticles. Then folic acid (FA) was conjugated with GNPs through the reaction between amino group of FA and carboxyl group of GSH. These folic acid-conjugated nanoparticles (FA-GSH-GNPs) were stable in aqueous solution over a broad range of pH and ionic strength values. The targeting of FA-GSH-GNPs in human cervices carcinoma cells (HeLa cells) with high-level folate receptor expression was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). No cellular uptake of these nanoparticles was observed in A549 cells lack of folate receptor. HeLa cells and mouse fibroblasts incubated with FA-GSH-GNPs were assayed by measuring the relative absorbance of the supernatant collected at low-speed centrifugation. Based on this simple spectroscopic method, HeLa cells have been detected with a detection limit of 10(2)cells/mL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomaterials, College of Materials, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhaowu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Youqun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D005978:Glutathione / Q000737:chemistry*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D051379:Mice; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D058973:Folate Receptors, GPI-Anchored; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D006046:Gold; D005492:Folic Acid; D005978:Glutathione