With the development of gold nanorods for versatile biomedical applications, understanding of their interactions with cells has become increasingly important. We prepared six types of surface coatings and investigated their effect on the cellular responses of gold nanorods. Cytotoxicity, cellular uptake, and photothermal effect in six different cell lines were examined. The coatings exhibit distinct cytotoxicities. The cell type plays a vital role for the cellular uptake of gold nanorods. The silica- and titania-coated gold nanorods show significantly higher amounts of cellular uptake than the PEG- and PSS-coated ones, which leads to better photothermal ablation effects for the silica- and titania-coated gold nanorods. Our studies indicate that the coatings on gold nanorods and the cell type determine the cellular responses. The inorganic coatings can bring improved biocompatibility, cellular uptake, as well as photothermal therapeutic effect to gold nanorods.

Effect of surface coatings on the cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of gold nanorods

247th National Meeting (2014)

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