Evaluation of PAMAM dendrimers-stabilized gold nanoparticles: two-stage procedure synthesis and toxicity assessment in MCF-7 breast cancer cells

Gold nanoparticles stabilized with polyamidoamine dendrimers are one of the potential candidates for use as a contrast agent in computed tomography and drug delivery agent. This work demonstrates a rapid, two-step synthesis of such complexes, which are size-stable for up to 18 months. The first step of the synthesis involves a short sonication of gold (III) chloride hydrate with polyamidoamine dendrimers of 4th generation, while the second step uses microwaves to reduce gold (III) chloride hydrate with sodium citrate. The developed synthesis method, enables rapid production of spherical and monodisperse gold nanoparticles stabilized with polyamidoamine dendrimers. Physicochemical characterization of the gold nanoparticle-polyamidoamine dendrimers complexes was performed using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering technique, infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The toxicity of synthesized complexes on breast cancer MCF-7 cell line has been studied using tetrazolium salt reduction test. The produced gold nanoparticles revealed lower toxicity levels on MCF-7 cell line after 18 months from synthesis compared with newly synthesized colloids. Synthesized gold nanoparticles stabilized with dendrimers and commercially available gold nanoparticles stabilized with sodium citrate show similar toxicity levels on breast cancer cells.