One-Minute Synthesis of Size-Controlled Fucoidan-Gold Nanosystems: Antitumoral Activity and Dark Field Imaging

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are one of the most studied nanosystems with great potential for biomedical applications, including cancer therapy. Although some gold-based systems have been described, the use of green and faster methods that allow the control of their properties is of prime importance. Thus, the present study reports a one-minute microwave-assisted synthesis of fucoidan-coated AuNPs with controllable size and high antitumoral activity. The NPs were synthesized using a fucoidan-enriched fraction extracted from Fucus vesiculosus, as the reducing and capping agent. The ensuing monodispersed and spherical NPs exhibit tiny diameters between 5.8 and 13.4 nm for concentrations of fucoidan between 0.5 and 0.05% (w/v), respectively, as excellent colloidal stability in distinct solutions and culture media. Furthermore, the NPs present antitumoral activity against three human tumor cell lines (MNT-1, HepG2, and MG-63), and flow cytometry in combination with dark-field imaging confirmed the cellular uptake of NPs by MG-63 cell line.

Natural Polymers-Based Materials: A Contribution to a Greener Future

“…Engineering natural polymers-based materials derived from polysaccharides and proteins is the main objective of the work carried out by the BioPol4fun research group. In the last decade, we have been intensively exploiting cellulose [ 63 , 64 ], nanocelluloses (e.g., bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) [ 61 , 65 , 66 ], nanofibrillated cellulose (CNFs) [ 67 , 68 ] and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) [ 69 ]), chitosan [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ], pullulan [ 71 , 74 , 75 , 76 ], starch [ 68 ], hyaluronic acid [ 77 , 78 ], alginate [ 79 ], fucoidan [ 80 , 81 ], agar [ 82 ], lysozyme [ 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 ], and gelatin [ 87 ] ( Figure 1 ) to fabricate films [ 85 , 88 , 89 , 90 , 91 ], membranes [ 81 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ], (nano)composites reference [ 64 , 96 , 97 , 98 , 99 ], coatings [ 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 ], nanosystems [ …”

“…Apart from cellulosic substrates, several other polymeric feedstocks of natural origin have been the object of study by our group ( Figure 1 ), in particular polysaccharides derived from marine sources (e.g., chitosan [ 68 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 90 , 91 , 102 , 103 , 129 ], fucoidan [ 80 ], and agar [ 82 ]) and microorganisms (e.g., pullulan [ 71 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 99 , 108 , 130 , 131 ]), and also some proteins, such as gelatin [ 87 ] and lysozyme [ 108 , 131 ] ( Table 2 ). Most of the works deal with the direct shaping of these raw materials into films [ 71 , 72 , 74 , 75 , 82 , 90 , 91 , 108 , 130 , 131 ]; however, the design of nanocomposites [ 68 , 99 , 129 ], coatings [ 73 , 102 , 103 ], nanosystems [ 80 ], and microneedles [ 76 , 87 ] is also described for the above-mentioned natural feedstocks.…”

“…Another strategy for microneedle fabrication involves the use of biopolymer derivatives (e.g., gelatin methacryloyl [ 87 ]) that can be cross-linked when exposed to UV irradiation to obtain swellable microneedles for fluid extraction. A different strategy to consider is the microwave-assisted approach used by Pinto et al [ 80 ] for the synthesis of fucoidan/gold nanosystems. With this methodology, monodispersed fucoidan-coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with variable sizes (5.8–13.4 nm) were fabricated after only one minute of exposure to microwave radiation.…”

Special Issue: Advanced Biopolymer-Based Nanocomposites and Hybrid Materials

“…This Special Issue of Materials-belonging to the section Biomaterials-contains a collection of six research papers about advanced biopolymer-based nanocomposites and hybrid materials. The collected papers made use of biopolymers, such as nanocellulose [3], fucoidan [4], silk fibroin [5,6], hyaluronic acid [6], and lignin [7], in combination with a polyzwitterion [3], metal nanoparticles [4,5], organometallic polymers [8], and a thermoplastic polymer [7], to develop advanced systems for water remediation [3], cancer treatment [4], catalysis, sensing, and energy storage [5], tissue engineering [6,8], and 3D printing [7,8].…”

“…In a different study, Pinto et al [4] explored the potential of fucoidan-gold nanosystems for cancer therapy. The authors effectively developed gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coated with fucoidan via one-minute microwave-assisted synthesis using a fucoidan-enriched fraction extracted from Fucus vesiculosus (species of brown algae), which played the simultaneous role of reducing and capping agents.…”