BSA-capped gold nanoclusters as potential theragnostic for skin diseases: Photoactivation, skin penetration, in vitro, and in vivo toxicity

LILLO, CRISTIAN R.; PRIETO, M. JIMENA; TOLEDO, PAMELA; GONZALEZ, MÓNICA C.; LILLO, CRISTIAN R.; PRIETO, M. JIMENA; TOLEDO, PAMELA; GONZALEZ, MÓNICA C.; CALIENNI, M. NATALIA; RODRIGUEZ SARTORI, DAMIÁN; ALONSO, SILVIA DEL VALLE; MONTANARI, JORGE; CALIENNI, M. NATALIA; RODRIGUEZ SARTORI, DAMIÁN; ALONSO, SILVIA DEL VALLE; MONTANARI, JORGE; RIVAS AIELLO, BELEN; TUNINETTI, JIMENA; MOYA, SERGIO; SOLER-ILLIA, GALO J.A.A.; RIVAS AIELLO, BELEN; TUNINETTI, JIMENA; MOYA, SERGIO; SOLER-ILLIA, GALO J.A.A.

MATERIALS SCIENCE & ENGINEERING. C, BIOMIMETIC MATERIALS, SENSORS AND SYSTEMS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2020 vol. 112

0928-4931

BSA-capped gold nanoclusters are promising theragnostic systems that can be excited to render both fluorescenceemission and reactive oxygen species. Although their synthesis and photoluminescence properties arealready well described, more accurate information about their use as photosensitizers is required in order toadvance towards health applications. In this work, we have obtained BSA-capped gold nanoclusters and characterizedtheir photophysics by different techniques. Singlet oxygen production was detected upon irradiation,which was enough to produce toxicity on two cell lines. Remarkably, an internal energy transfer, probably due tothe presence of smaller nanoclusters and the contribution of oxidized residues of BSA in the system, causedfluorescence emission near 640 nm after excitation in the UV range. Additionally, the system was capable ofpenetrating human skin beyond the stratum corneum, which enhances the potential of these nanoclusters asbifunctional photodynamic therapy effectors and biomarkers with application in a diversity of skin diseases. Inthe absence of radiation, BSA-capped gold nanoclusters did not cause toxicity in vitro, while their toxic effect onan in vivo model as zebrafish was determined.