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Articolo in rivista, 2019, ENG, 10.3390/nano9050772

Highly Hydrophilic Gold Nanoparticles as Carrier for Anticancer Copper(I) Complexes: Loading and Release Studies for Biomedical Applications

Fratoddi I.; Venditti I.; Battocchio C.; Carlini L.; Amatori S.; Porchia M:; Tisato F.; Bondino F.; Magnano A:; Pellei M.; Santini C.

1,5: Chemistry Department Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy / 2,3,4: Sciences Department Roma Tre University of Rome, via della Vasca navale 79, 00146 Rome Italy / 6,7: ICMATE, National Research Council (CNR), Corso Stati Uniti, 4-35127 Padua, Italy / 8,9: IOM-CNR Laboratorio TASC, SS 14, km 163,5 Basovizza, I-34149 Trieste, Italy / 10,11: School of Science and Technology, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino (MC) Italy

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which are strongly hydrophilic and dimensionally suitable for drug delivery, were used in loading and release studies of two different copper(I)-based antitumor complexes, namely [Cu(PTA)4] + [BF4]- (A; PTA = 1, 3, 5-triaza-7-phosphadamantane) and [HB(pz)3Cu(PCN)] (B; HB(pz)3 = tris(pyrazolyl)borate, PCN = tris(cyanoethyl)phosphane). In the homoleptic, water-soluble compound A, the metal is tetrahedrally arranged in a cationic moiety. Compound B is instead a mixed-ligand (scorpionate/phosphane), neutral complex insoluble in water. In this work, the loading procedures and the loading efficiency of A and B complexes on the AuNPs were investigated, with the aim to improve their bioavailability and to obtain a controlled release. The non-covalent interactions of A and B with the AuNPs surface were studied by means of dynamic light scattering (DLS), UV-Vis, FT-IR and high-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HR-XPS) measurements. As a result, the AuNPs-A system proved to be more stable and efficient than the AuNPs-B system. In fact, for AuNPs-A the drug loading reached 90%, whereas for AuNPs-B it reached 65%. For AuNPs-A conjugated systems, a release study in water solution was performed over 4 days, showing a slow release up to 10%.

Nanomaterials (Basel) 9 , pp. 772–785