Ultrasmall Au and Ag Nanoclusters for Biomedical Applications: A Review

Tang, Jia; Shi, Huidong; Ma, Guanyu; Luo, Lixia; Tang, Zhenghua

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2020.01019

Cited by 43 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 64 publications

(81 reference statements)

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“…In current cancer therapy, the number of designed and tested nanocarriers continuously increases and includes micelles, dendrimers, liposomes, vesicles, capsules, organic and inorganic NPs, etc. [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. An ideal nanocarrier for drug delivery and cancer treatment should meet a number of criteria including avoidance of the cleansing by the reticuloendothelial system (RES) and release and accumulation of the cargo at the targeted site with the desired therapeutic dose [ 21 ].…”

Section: Nano-based Building Blocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanocluster-Based Drug Delivery and Theranostic Systems: Towards Cancer Therapy

2022

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Over the last decades, the global life expectancy of the population has increased, and so, consequently, has the risk of cancer development. Despite the improvement in cancer therapies (e.g., drug delivery systems (DDS) and theranostics), in many cases recurrence continues to be a challenging issue. In this matter, the development of nanotechnology has led to an array of possibilities for cancer treatment. One of the most promising therapies focuses on the assembly of hierarchical structures in the form of nanoclusters, as this approach involves preparing individual building blocks while avoiding handling toxic chemicals in the presence of biomolecules. This review aims at presenting an overview of the major advances made in developing nanoclusters based on polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) and/or inorganic NPs. The preparation methods and the features of the NPs used in the construction of the nanoclusters were described. Afterwards, the design, fabrication and properties of the two main classes of nanoclusters, namely noble-metal nanoclusters and hybrid (i.e., hetero) nanoclusters and their mode of action in cancer therapy, were summarized.

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Section: Nano-based Building Blocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanocluster-Based Drug Delivery and Theranostic Systems: Towards Cancer Therapy

2022

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“…This study provides a proof of principle for the utilization of AuNCs as an alternative wide‐spectrum antimicrobial agent and, at the same time, with potential high biocompatibility in the host human cells due to the noble qualities of gold [ 40,41 ] (Figure 1). Even more interesting, AuNCs possess higher structural stability than silver (Ag) NPs and AgNCs, [ 42 ] which have led the investigations in this field due to the intrinsic antimicrobial capacity of Ag. [ 43 ] Hence, AuNCs could be one of the best candidates for the development of a new generation of antimicrobial agents.…”

Section: The Unique Properties Of Ultrasmall Auncs For Biomedical Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atomically Precise Gold Nanoclusters: Towards an Optimal Biocompatible System from a Theoretical–Experimental Strategy

Matus

Häkkinen

2021

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Potential biomedical applications of gold nanoparticles have increasingly been reported with great promise for diagnosis and therapy of several diseases. However, for such a versatile nanomaterial, the advantages and potential health risks need to be addressed carefully, as the available information about their toxicity is limited and inconsistent. Atomically precise gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have emerged to overcome this challenge due to their unique features, such as superior stability, excellent biocompatibility, and efficient renal clearance. Remarkably, the elucidation of their structural and physicochemical properties provided by theory–experiment investigations offers exciting opportunities for site‐specific biofunctionalization of the nanoparticle surface, which remains a significant concern for most of the materials in the biomedical field. This concept highlights the advantages conferred by atomically precise AuNCs for biomedical applications and the powerful strategy combining computational and experimental studies towards finding an optimal biocompatible AuNCs‐based nanosystem.

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“…NCs made of gold, silver, and copper, due to their fluorescence spectral characteristics and tuneable excitation/emission bands, are broadly used in sensing and biosensing platforms in several research fields, such as food science, disease diagnosis, gene delivery, drug screening, environment etc. [4][5][6][7][8][9]. However, NCs have generally lower quantum yield than organic fluorophores and their fluorescence signals generally need enhancement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metal enhanced fluorescence of different metallic nanoclusters deposited on silver dendritic nanostructures

Sabzalipoor

Karimi

Nikkhah

et al. 2022

Micro & Nano Letters

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Plasmonic nanoclusters (NCs) have been introduced as new fluorescent materials that have low toxicity and do not undergo photo‐bleaching. Several factors including size and type of the NCs, surface chemistry and even solvent affect their luminescence. Despite extensive studies on tuning the fluorescence properties of NCs by manipulation of the above‐mentioned factors, very few researches have been focused on metal enhanced fluorescence (MEF) of them. In this study, the fabrication of silver dendritic nanostructured surfaces (DNSs) with numerous hotspots and unique plasmonic properties were optimized and DNSs were used as the substrates for fluorescence enhancement of NCs. NCs made of gold, silver and copper were synthesized by different stabilizing agents and compared with each other in terms of their MEF characteristics. The results showed that the stabilizing agent, the synthesis method and type of NCs affected their fluorescence enhancement by the DNSs. Copper NCs stabilized by bovine serum albumin (BSA) had the highest rate of fluorescence enhancement, with enhancement factor of 4.8 ± 0.8. Gold NCs synthesized by glutathione (GSH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) demonstrated 3.9 ± 0.6 and 3.1 ± 0.4 fold fluorescence enhancement, respectively. The possibility of fluorescence enhancement of NCs in the vicinity of plasmonic nano‐structures introduces attractive platforms for sensing purposes.

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Ultrasmall Au and Ag Nanoclusters for Biomedical Applications: A Review

Cited by 43 publications

References 64 publications

Nanocluster-Based Drug Delivery and Theranostic Systems: Towards Cancer Therapy

Nanocluster-Based Drug Delivery and Theranostic Systems: Towards Cancer Therapy

Atomically Precise Gold Nanoclusters: Towards an Optimal Biocompatible System from a Theoretical–Experimental Strategy

Metal enhanced fluorescence of different metallic nanoclusters deposited on silver dendritic nanostructures

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