Biomimetic gold nanoparticles for its cytotoxicity and biocompatibility evidenced by fluorescence-based assays in cancer (MDA-MB-231) and non-cancerous (HEK-293) cells

Biomimetic gold nanoparticles of biological origin have created a significant impact on the field of biomedicine due to the great expectations of its applications. Because of this, the influences of biomimetic gold nanoparticles have been immensely studied, targeting various cancer cells. However, the impact of biomimetic gold nanoparticles against normal non-cancerous cells is scanty, which impose several limitations in their utility. Taking this as a challenge, we in this study report the biomimetic gold nanoparticles from marine seaweed Gelidium pusillum (G. pusillum) to evaluate its cytotoxic and biocompatible ability evidenced by fluorescence-based assays in cultured cells. The gold nanoparticles obtained in the study were spherical shaped with a mean diameter of 12 +/- 4.2 nm. The seaweed extract plays a crucial role in stabilizing the gold nanoparticles to avoid aggregation and coalescence. At an IC50 concentration of 43.09 +/- 1.6 mu gml(-1), the biomimetic gold nanoparticles were found to be toxic to cancerous cells (MDA-MB-231). Whereas, biomimetic gold nanoparticles exhibit significant biocompatibility with human embryonic kidney cells even at a higher concentration of 150 mu gmL(-1). The morphological based fluorescence assays confirmed the ability of biomimetic gold nanoparticles in inducing apoptosis and thereby kills cancer cells. Altogether, the gold nanoparticles were safe to normal cells and did not show a significant impact. Hence, the novel biomimetic gold nanoparticles hold potential as multifaceted agent and can further be taken up to various biomedical applications.