title: Adsorption of doxorubicin on citrate-capped gold nanoparticles: insights into engineering potent chemotherapeutic delivery systems.
abstract: Gold nanomaterials have received great interest for their use in cancer theranostic applications over the past two decades. Many gold nanoparticle-based drug delivery system designs rely on adsorbed ligands such as DNA or cleavable linkers to load therapeutic cargo. The heightened research interest was recently demonstrated in the simple design of nanoparticle-drug conjugates wherein drug molecules are directly adsorbed onto the as-synthesized nanoparticle surface. The potent chemotherapeutic, doxorubicin often serves as a model drug for gold nanoparticle-based delivery platforms; however, the specific interaction facilitating adsorption in this system remains understudied. Here, for the first time, we propose empirical and theoretical evidence suggestive of the main adsorption process where (1) hydrophobic forces drive doxorubicin towards the gold nanoparticle surface before (2) cation-π interactions and gold-carbonyl coordination between the drug molecule and the cations on AuNP surface facilitate DOX adsorption. In addition, biologically relevant compounds, such as serum albumin and glutathione, were shown to enhance desorption of loaded drug molecules from AuNP at physiologically relevant concentrations, providing insight into the drug release and in vivo stability of such drug conjugates.
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca and Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Curry
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca.
authors.forename: Collins
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nganou
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca and Department of Biology, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada.
authors.forename: Hope
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Scheller
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2R6, Canada.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beale
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca.
authors.forename: Mingsheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca.
authors.forename: Rajendran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaliaperumal
authors.affiliation: Cape Breton Cancer Centre, Cape Breton Regional Hospital, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 1P3, Canada.
authors.forename: Heping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Servos
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2R6, Canada.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: MacQuarrie
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca and Department of Biology, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada.
authors.forename: Ken D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Oakes
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mkandawire
authors.affiliation: Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment, Cape Breton University, 1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6L2, Canada. Xu_Zhang@CBU.ca.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D019343:Citric Acid; D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles; D008956:Models, Chemical
chemical_list: D020099:Coated Materials, Biocompatible; D019343:Citric Acid; D004317:Doxorubicin