Modern Chemistry & Applications

Copper and copper-gold nanoparticles in drug delivery and cancer therapy

International Conference on Applied Chemistry

October 17-18, 2016 Houston, USA

Marta J Wozniak-Budych

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Mod Chem appl

Abstract:

Metallic nanoparticles have attracted tremendous attention in biomedical applications, due to their unique size-dependent properties. As the dimensions of nanomaterials shrink down to the nanoscale, they give birth to the numerous applications, such as imagining, medical diagnostics and drug delivery systems. The unique properties of nanomaterials are associated with method of their synthesis. In order to reach their full potential, the controlled synthesis of nanoparticles must meet several requirements, including monodispersity in terms of size, shape and structure. Among different methods for the metallic nanoparticles synthesis, the chemical reduction, due to simple procedure and low cost production is the most preferred. The use of metal nanoparticles has expanded in recent years. In particular, the noble metal nanoparticles, such as gold, silver or platinum have found many applications in biotechnology and biomedicine. Among various metal nanoparticles, copper nanoparticle is one of the most interesting nanomaterials, due to antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative properties. However, there are only a few applications of copper nanoparticles in medicine. The main goal of this research was designing metallic nanostructures based on copper nanoparticles for applications in drug delivery. It was demonstrated, that copper nanoparticles and copper-gold core/shell nanoalloys could be easily loaded by cytostatic and applied as drug nanocarriers. Moreover, several experiments focused on introduction and release of chemotherapeutic agent (such as doxorubicin or paclitaxel) was performed, including kinetic and thermodynamic studies of drug adsorption. In order to assess the cytotoxicity of pure and loaded by drug nanostructures, the in vitro tests in human fibroblasts and HeLa cells were carried out. The results indicate that nanostructure based on copper nanoparticles have potential to be used in targeted cancer therapy, due to their unique properties and cytotoxic effect in cancer cells.

Biography :

Email: marta.budych@amu.edu.pl