Cysteine-coated gold nanoparticles as superoxide scavenger

Superoxide (O2 •−) can cause significant damages to cells and tissues. The human body obtains an enzymecalled superoxide dismutase (SOD) which acts as an O2•− scavenger. SOD breaks down superoxide through a redox reaction. Cysteine-coated GNPs (GNPs-Cys) has been observed to act as a SOD mimetic by carrying out a similar redox reaction with O2 •−. The IC50 value was measured by pyrogallol autoxidation method (8 μg/ml) which showed that GNPs- Cys is a good superoxide scavenger. The non-toxicity effect of GNPs-Cys on human embryonic kidney 293 cells (HEK 293) was evaluated by the MTT colorimetric technique. The results indicate that GNPs-Cys has no toxic symptom. This cost effective GNPs-Cys might find useful applications in sensor developments and future nano-treatments.

کلیدواژه ها:

Superoxide dismutase mimics ، Gold nanoparticles ، Cysteine ، Cell