A Novel Gold Nanoparticles Drug Delivery System: Design and Ex Vivo Tissue Testing

In the present work we have designed a novel gold nanoparticle (GNP) based nanodrug delivery system, which has been loaded with a naturally occurring anticancer molecule, curcumin. GNPs were selected as drug carrier due to their unique properties including high surface area, small size, inertness, low toxicity and high stability. The drug delivery system was synthesized by a green, one pot method which involved simple mixing of reactants, with no heating or toxic chemicals. Additionally, GNPs also display intrinsic anti-cancer attributes on their own, which is expected to further amplify the anticancer effect of the system. Curcumin release was activated by a handheld low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) device. It is hypothesized that the moderate rise in tissue temperature (up to 43°C) together with mechanical effects of LIPUS beam induces effective release of curcumin from the surface of GNP. The developed nanodrug delivery system was characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence and hyperspectral imaging.