Carbohydrate functionalization of silver nanoparticles modulates cytotoxicity and cellular uptake

David C Kennedy¹⁵, Guillermo Orts-Gil¹^*, Chian-Hui Lai¹, Larissa Müller², Andrea Haase³,Andreas Luch³ and Peter H Seeberger¹⁴

*Corresponding author: Guillermo Orts-Gil guillermo.orts-gil@mpikg.mpg.de

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Biomolecular Systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG), Potsdam, 14476, Germany

²Division 1.1 Inorganic Trace Analysis, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Richard-Willstätter-Straße 11, Berlin, 12489, Germany

³Departments Chemical and Product Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, 10589, Germany

⁴Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry, Free University Berlin, Arnimallee 22, Berlin, 14195, Germany

⁵National Research Council Canada (CNRC), 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2014, 12:59 doi:10.1186/s12951-014-0059-z

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at:http://www.jnanobiotechnology.com/content/12/1/59

Received:	6 August 2014
Accepted:	11 December 2014
Published:	19 December 2014

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

Abstract

Background

Increasing use of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) in various products is resulting in a greater likelihood of human exposure to these materials. Nevertheless, little is still known about the influence of carbohydrates on the toxicity and cellular uptake of nanoparticles.

Methods

Ag-NPs functionalized with three different monosaccharides and ethylene glycol were synthesized and characterised. Oxidative stress and toxicity was evaluated by protein carbonylation and MTT assay, respectively. Cellular uptake was evaluated by confocal microscopy and ICP-MS.

Results

Ag-NPs coated with galactose and mannose were considerably less toxic to neuronal-like cells and hepatocytes compared to particles functionalized by glucose, ethylene glycol or citrate. Toxicity correlated to oxidative stress but not to cellular uptake.

Conclusions

Carbohydrate coating on silver nanoparticles modulates both oxidative stress and cellular uptake, but mainly the first has an impact on toxicity. These findings provide new perspectives on modulating the bioactivity of Ag-NPs by using carbohydrates.