According to WHO, the prevalence of obesity has tripled since 1975 and ~ 13% of the world’s population is obese. Obesity is the biggest risk factors for noncommunicable disease such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and inflammatory disorders. Biologically active phytochemicals such as Naringenin (NG) have shown potential for promoting benefits against obesity, however, the bioavailability of NG has remained controversial. Hence there is a need to develop targeted therapy, which will increase the concentration of NG in the adipose tissue. Currently, nanoparticles are used for drug delivery where conventional therapies have proven to be less effective. Among various types of nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles have found considerable attention in drug delivery as they are easy to synthesize, inert, and are biocompatible. However, to use them for drug delivery system, the gold nanoparticles need to be surface functionalized by ligands such as HOOC-PEG-COOH. The use of HOOC-PEG-COOH provides a carboxylic functional group on the surface of gold nanoparticles. Once acid functionalized, the Au-COOH will be conjugated to a NG to yield Au-NG. To increase the specificity of the nanoparticles to the white adipose tissue (WAT), a WAT specific peptide, P3 (CKGGRAKDC) will be conjugated onto Au-NG to yield a final product Au-NG-P3. The P3 peptide has been reported to bind specifically to WAT vasculature through the membrane protein prohibitin, hence the presence of P3 onto the nanoparticle will increase the specificity and selectivity of the nanoparticle to the adipose tissue. Gold nanoparticles were synthesized using reduction of HAuCl4 chloride in presence of NaOH and HOOC-PEG-COOH. The presence of gold nanoparticles was confirmed by the unique absorption of surface plasmons of the gold nanoparticles at 530nm. Evaluation of particle size using particle size analyzer and TEM confirmed the presence of homogeneous spherical particles with the average particle size of 30nm. Once developed, the bioavailability of Au-NG-P3 will be evaluated both in vitro and in vivo.

Use of gold nanoparticles to deliver naringenin to adipocytes

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.