title: The effects of gold nanoparticles functionalized with ß-amyloid specific peptides on an in vitro model of blood-brain barrier.
abstract: We studied the effect of gold nanoparticle (AuNP) size, surface charge, concentration and morphology on the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in a well-established in vitro model set-up. We focused on the effect of peptide functionalized hollow gold nanospheres and gold nanorods, which selectively bind to amyloidogenic β-amyloid structures. These AuNP conjugates have already been successfully tested as photothermal absorbers for potential application in Alzheimer's disease (AD) therapy in an in vitro set-up, but may exhibit a low passage through the BBB due to their overall negative charge. Our results show that: (i) small (1.4 nm) AuNPs strongly affects the BBB integrity, (ii) negative surface charge impedes BBB passage, and (iii) this charge effect caused by the peptide is compensated by covalent coupling to a polyethylene glycol ligand stabilizing the particles in diluted manner.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruff
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hüwel
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Nanobiotecnología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile; Advanced Center for Chronic Diseases (ACCDiS), Santiago de Chile, Chile.
authors.forename: Marcelo J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kogan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. Electronic address: ulrich.simon@ac.rwth-aachen.de.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biochemistry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany. Electronic address: gallah@uni-muenster.de.
authors.forename: Hans-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Galla
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D001692:Biological Transport; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier; D006046:Gold; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles; D010455:Peptides; D011485:Protein Binding
chemical_list: D016229:Amyloid beta-Peptides; D010455:Peptides; D006046:Gold
keywords: Blood–brain barrier; Gold nanorods; Hollow gold nanospheres; Impedance spectroscopy