TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of Plasmonic Nanoparticles on the Performance of Colorimetric Cell Viability Assays
AU - Altunbek, Mine
AU - Culha, Mustafa
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the Yeditepe University and TUBITAK for the financial support during this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - The conventional colorimetric assays based on measurement of the metabolic activity are routinely used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of nanomaterials (NMs). However, due to the varying absorbance properties of plasmonic NMs in the visible region of the spectrum, obtained results can be misleading. In this study, MTT, MTS, and WST-1 colorimetric cell viability assays were evaluated in the presence of gold (AuNPs) or silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Since a living cell a complex system containing many molecular and ionic species, the plasmonic AuNP and AgNPs may selectively interact with intracellular components possessing thiol, amino, and carboxyl group moieties change the aggregation behavior of the NMs and thus their absorbance. A series of UV/Vis and DLS experiments were conducted to understand the interference possibility of the tested plasmonic NMs. The results show that the AuNPs and AgNPs do not have absorption at the wavelength where MTT formazan is measured while the both NPs may interfere with absorbance of MTS and WST-1 formazan.The overall assessments show that MTT assay is more suitable for the cell viability evaluation of spherical AuNPs and AgNPs with an average diameter of 50 nm. This study also suggests that a preliminary ex situ evaluation of plasmonic nanoparticles can provide valuable information for the suitability of the assay.
AB - The conventional colorimetric assays based on measurement of the metabolic activity are routinely used to evaluate the cytotoxicity of nanomaterials (NMs). However, due to the varying absorbance properties of plasmonic NMs in the visible region of the spectrum, obtained results can be misleading. In this study, MTT, MTS, and WST-1 colorimetric cell viability assays were evaluated in the presence of gold (AuNPs) or silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Since a living cell a complex system containing many molecular and ionic species, the plasmonic AuNP and AgNPs may selectively interact with intracellular components possessing thiol, amino, and carboxyl group moieties change the aggregation behavior of the NMs and thus their absorbance. A series of UV/Vis and DLS experiments were conducted to understand the interference possibility of the tested plasmonic NMs. The results show that the AuNPs and AgNPs do not have absorption at the wavelength where MTT formazan is measured while the both NPs may interfere with absorbance of MTS and WST-1 formazan.The overall assessments show that MTT assay is more suitable for the cell viability evaluation of spherical AuNPs and AgNPs with an average diameter of 50 nm. This study also suggests that a preliminary ex situ evaluation of plasmonic nanoparticles can provide valuable information for the suitability of the assay.
KW - Colorimetric assays
KW - Gold nanoparticles
KW - Nanoparticle cytotoxicity
KW - Silver nanoparticles
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U2 - 10.1007/s11468-016-0442-8
DO - 10.1007/s11468-016-0442-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84995776223
SN - 1557-1955
VL - 12
SP - 1749
EP - 1760
JO - Plasmonics
JF - Plasmonics
IS - 6
ER -