Preparation of gold and silver nanoparticles using chondroitin sulfate or cartilage powder and their possible immunomodulatory effects.

摘要

We observed that cartilage powder (CT) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) can generate gold (Au) or silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) from solutions of chloroauric acid trihydrate (HAuCl4) or silver nitrate (AgNO 3), respectively. These observations prompted us to hypothesize that the anti-inflammatory effects observed during the aurotherapy of rheumatoid arthritis might be due to the in vivo generation of Au NPs. To test this hypothesis we synthesized Au NPs or Ag NPs using CT or CS and evaluated their immunomodulatory potential in a natural killer (NK) cell activity assay. In addition, samples were sent to collaborators to be tested in an embryonic zebrafish assay to evaluate their anti-inflammatory potentials. Results from the zebrafish assays indicate little toxicity from exposure to the Au NPs or Ag NPs preparations and the magnitude of the inflammatory response was significantly decreased in the presence of Au NPs or Ag NPs synthesized with CS or CT. Au NPs or Ag NPs synthesized with CS decreased the cytotoxic activity of NK cells towards cancer cells however, Ag NPs proved to be cytotoxic towards the NK cells. Ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), dynamic light scattering (DLS), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the NPs.