Nanoparticles can be produced using a variety of methods, yielding particles of different sizes and shapes. With these new experiments with gold nanoparticles, the Cracow-Rzeszow physicists noticed that biology does not follow the popular rule that their toxicity is greater the smaller they are.
Using the unique features of holotomography, the physicists could determine the causes of the unexpected behaviour of cancer cells in the presence of gold nanoparticles. A series of experiments was conducted on three cell lines: two glioma and one colon. Amongst others, it was observed that although the small, spherical nanoparticles easily penetrated the cancer cells, the cells regenerated and even started to divide again, despite the initial stress. In the case of colon cancer cells, the gold nanoparticles were quickly pushed out of them. The situation was different for the large starshaped nanoparticles. Their sharp tips perforated the cell membranes, most likely resulting in increasing oxidative stress inside the cells. When these cells could no longer cope with repairing the increasing damage, the mechanism of apoptosis, or programmed death, was triggered.
The Cracow-Rzeszow group is preparing new experiments to make it possible to extend the model of the interaction of nanoparticles with cancer cells to include further parameters, such as the chemical composition of the particles or further tumour types.
https://www.nanotechnologyworld.org/post/gold-nanoparticles-kill-cancer-but-not-as-thought