skip to content
Dovepress - Open Access to Scientific and Medical Research
View our mobile site

8847

Cytotoxicity of naphthoquinones and their capacity to generate reactive oxygen species is quenched when conjugated with gold nanoparticles

Original Research

(973) Views  (426) Full article downloads

Authors: Srinivas P, Patra CR, Bhattacharya S, Mukhopadhyay D

Published Date September 2011 Volume 2011:6 Pages 2113 - 2122
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S24074

Priya Srinivas1,2, Chitta Ranjan Patra2,4, Santanu Bhattacharya2, Debabrata Mukhopadhyay2,3
1Integrated Cancer Research Program, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala, India; 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; 3Department of Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, USA; 4Department of Chemical Biology, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India

Abstract: Several reports have demonstrated the anticancer activities of plumbagin, a naphthoquinone derivative isolated from plants belonging to Plumbaginaceae family. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no reports which describe gold nanoconjugation with plumbagin, even though plumbagin is considered to be a promising therapeutic agent. In this report, we demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of gold nanoparticles conjugated with plumbagin (AuPB) that can reduce the toxicity of the latter, and their capacity for cellular localization and generation of reactive oxygen species. The anticancer activity and ability of plumbagin to produce reactive oxygen species was studied and compared with that of bromoderivatives of 1,4 naphthoquinones such as 2-bromo-1,4-naphthoquinone (2-BNQ) and 2,3-dibromo-1, 4-naphthoquinone (2,3-DBNQ) and their gold nanoconjugates. Plumbagin and bromoderivatives of 1,4 naphthoquinones in the form of gold nanoconjugates showed reduced cytotoxicity and apoptosis compared with the pristine compounds, ie, plumbagin, 2-BNQ, and 2,3-DBNQ. Interestingly, we observed that the gold nanoparticles could quench the reactive oxygen species-generating capacity of plumbagin, 2-BNQ, and 2,3-BNQ, which is one of the main mechanisms of action of the naphthoquinones. Therefore, it can be concluded that conjugation with gold nanoparticles can reduce the cytotoxicity of these compounds.

Keywords: plumbagin, gold nanoparticles, reactive oxygen species, naphthoquinones, breast cancer






Readers of this article also read:

Evidence-based decision-making within the context of globalization: A “Why–What–How” for leaders and managers of health care organizations
Periosteoplasty for covering gingival recessions: Clinical results
Radiolucency below the crown of mandibular horizontal incompletely impacted third molars and acute inflammation in men with diabetes
Berberine: metabolic and cardiovascular effects in preclinical and clinical trials
"Globalized public health.” A transdisciplinary comprehensive framework for analyzing contemporary globalization’s influences on the field of public health
Amino acid-responsive Crohn's disease: a case study
Amino acid management of Parkinson’s disease: a case study
Solvent effects on structural and thermochemical properties of p53 tumor-suppressor gene: a molecular modeling approach in drug design
Formation of silver microbelt structures by laser irradiation of silver nanoparticles in ethanol
Physicochemical properties and biocompatibility of a polymer-paclitaxel conjugate for cancer treatment