Inhibition effects of protein-conjugated amorphous zinc sulfide nanoparticles on tumor cells growth

In this article, a facile and environmentally friendly method was applied to fabricate BSA-conjugated amorphous zinc sulfide (ZnS) nanoparticles using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the matrix. Transmission electron microscopy analysis indicated that the stable and well-dispersed nanoparticles with the diameter of 15.9 +/- A 2.1 nm were successfully prepared. The energy dispersive X-ray, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrograph, high resolution transmission electron microscope, and selected area electron diffraction measurements showed that the obtained nanoparticles had the amorphous structure and the coordination occurred between zinc sulfide surfaces and BSA in the nanoparticles. In addition, the inhibition effects of BSA-conjugated amorphous zinc sulfide nanoparticles on tumor cells growth were described in detail by cell viability analysis, optical and electron microscopy methods. The results showed that BSA-conjugated amorphous zinc sulfide nanoparticles could inhibit the metabolism and proliferation of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells, and the inhibition was dose dependent. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 0.36 mg/mL. Overall, this study suggested that BSA-conjugated amorphous zinc sulfide nanoparticles had the application potential as cytostatic agents and BSA in the nanoparticles could provide the modifiable site for the nanoparticles to improve their bioactivity or to endow them with the target function.