Cytotoxic Induction and Photoacoustic Imaging of Breast Cancer Cells Using Astaxanthin-Reduced Gold Nanoparticles.
Astaxanthin, a kind of photosynthetic pigment, was employed for gold nanoparticle formation. Nanoparticles were characterized using Ulteraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction, and the possible presence of astaxanthin functional groups were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The cytotoxic effect of synthesized nanoparticles was evaluated against MDA-MB-231 (human breast cancer cells) using a tetrazolium-based assay, and synthesized nanoparticles exhibited dose-dependent toxicity. The morphology upon cell death was differentiated through fluorescent microscopy using different stains that predicted apoptosis. The synthesized nanoparticles were applied in ultrasound-coupled photoacoustic imaging to obtain good images of treated cells. Astaxanthin-reduced gold nanoparticle has the potential to act as a promising agent in the field of photo-based diagnosis and therapy.
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Marine-Integrated Bionics Research Center, Pukyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. sbrbtc@gmail.com.
Subramaniyan
S
Bharathiraja
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Marine-Integrated Bionics Research Center, Pukyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. manimaribtech@gmail.com.
Panchanathan
P
Manivasagan
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Marine-Integrated Biotechnology (BK21 Plus), Pukyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. nhatquang85@gmail.com.
Nhat
N
Quang Bui
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Marine-Integrated Bionics Research Center, Pukyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. si565@hanmail.net.
Yun-Ok
YO
Oh
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Myong-Ji University, San 38-2, Nam-dong, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 449-728, Korea. iglim@mju.ac.kr.
In Gweon
IG
Lim
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA. tumbler77@gmail.com.
Suhyun
S
Park
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Marine-Integrated Bionics Research Center, Pukyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. jungoh@pknu.ac.kr.|Department of Biomedical Engineering and Center for Marine-Integrated Biotechnology (BK21 Plus), Pukyong National University, Busan 608-737, Korea. jungoh@pknu.ac.kr.
Junghwan
J
Oh
astaxanthin; breast cancer; cytotoxicity; gold nanoparticle; photoacoustic imaging