STABILITY AND

PHOTOSTABILITY OF MES
CAPPED GOLD NANOPARTICLES

Raminta MARCINONYTE1,
Marija MATULIONYTE1, Ricardas ROTOMSKIS1,2
1Laboratory of Biomedical Physics, Vilnius University Institute of Oncology
2Biophotonics group of Laser Research Center, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University

10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”

8-10th of November, Kaunas
Gold nanoparticles
Nanomedicine is currently an active field
that holds great potential to fight with cancer at
the molecular scale.

Gold nanoparticles exhibit unique

optoelectronic properties which are specific for
gold only on the nanometer scale (1-100 nm):
 Photoluminescence;
F. Alexis et al. Urologic Oncology, 2008
http://southwerk.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/gold-nanoparticles/
 Plasmon resonance;
 Colloidal stability.

At the core of nanomedicine is the

development of nanoparticles which are very
promising for a wide range of biomedical
applications:
 Cellular imaging;
 Photothermal cancer therapy;
 Therapy using targeted drug delivery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colloidal_gold

10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”

8-10th of November, Kaunas 2
Goal
Investigate spectroscopic features, stability and photostability of
synthesized MES capped gold nanoparticles in water solution and cell
culture medium by visible light sources in order to evaluate their
potential for in vivo research.

Ralph A. Sperling et al, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2008

10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”

8-10th of November, Kaunas 3
Materials
MES capped gold nanoparticles were synthesized using:
 Chloroauric acid (HAuCl4×H2O);
 MES (2-(N-morpholino) ethanesulfonic acid (pH 6.3);
 Sodium hydroxide (NaOH);
Also for spectral analysis cell culture medium was used. It consisting of:
 DMEM (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium);
 Serum;
 Antibiotics;
 L-glutamine.

The gold nanoparticles were synthesized according to the following

procedure[1]:

21.5 h
+
37 °C

0.29 M 1 M MES GNPs

HAuCl4 + NaOH
(pH 6.3) 1 Chen P.C. et al. Nanotechnology, 2008

10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”

8-10th of November, Kaunas 4
GNPs
 Methods
Spectral properties of MES capped gold nanoparticles were analyzed by measuring:
 Absorption spectra (Varian Cary Win UV absorption spectrometer);
 Photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation spectra (Varian Cary
Eclipse fluorescence spectrometer);

10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”

8-10th of November, Kaunas 5
Methods
Photostability was investigated irradiating MES capped
gold nanoparticles solutions with xenon (Xe) lamp using
402 nm filter. Power of 20-21 mW was used.
GNPs
V = 2 ml

GNPs
V = 2 ml 3 cm
UV/VIS lamp

1 cm
1 cm

402 nm bandpass filter Mixed with a

magnetic stirrer
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8-10th of November, Kaunas 6
Spectral properties of MES capped gold nanoparticles
PL λmax = 476 nm.

420 nm 476 nm
d < 2 nm [2]

PL excitation
λmax = 420 nm.

PL excitation spectrum did

not coincide with peaks of
absorption spectrum.
Fig. 1. Absorption, photoluminescence (λex = 420 nm) and
photoluminescence excitation (λem = 476 nm) spectra of gold
nanoparticles (GNPs) in water solution. Absorption spectra of 2 Muhammed M.A.H. et al., Advan. Fluor.
Repor. Che. and Bio. 2010
MES and HAuCl4 aqueous solutions.
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8-10th of November, Kaunas 7
Stability of spectral properties

Fig. 2. Stability of MES capped

gold nanoparticles in water

PL intensity decrease by PL intensity decrease by

2.5% after one week Cell culture
Timemedium 46% after one week

PL intensity decrease PL intensity decrease

by 43% after 3 weeks by 77% after 3 weeks

Fig. 2. Stability of MES capped Fig. 3. Stability of MES capped

gold nanoparticles in water gold nanoparticles in cell culture
medium
10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”
8-10th of November, Kaunas 8
 Photostability of photoluminescence
a)

1st – 14th sessions – 9.5 W*s*cm-2

15th – 18th sessions – 12 W*s*cm-2

19th – 21st sessions – 38 W*s*cm-2

b)

Fig. 4. MES capped gold nanoparticles in

water (a)solution and cell culture medium (b)
irradiated with Xenon lamp at  = 402 nm.
The inserted graph shows changes of
absorption spectrum.
10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”
8-10th of November, Kaunas 9
Conclusions
 Solution of gold nanoparticles consists not only of small (smaller
than 2 nm) photoluminescent nanoparticles but of mixture of
different size nanoparticles;
 Compounds of cell culture medium quench photoluminescence of
gold nanoparticles. Therefore, gold nanoparticles diluted with
water are more stable than gold nanoparticles diluted with cell
culture medium;
 Gold nanoparticles rather disintegrated and lost
photoluminescence properties (decrease of quantum yield) than
precipitated. It caused by unstable MES capping;
 When gold nanoparticles solutions accumulated ~ 9.5 W×s×cm-2
irradiation dose photoproduct was formed.
 Photoproduct showed better photostability of photoluminescence
than gold nanoparticles.

10th International Conference & Workshop “Medical Physics 2012”

8-10th of November, Kaunas 10
Thank You.
Questions?
 Photostability of absorption
Fig.6. Absorption spectra (top) and differential
absorption spectra (bottom) of MES capped
gold nanoparticles in water and irradiated with
Xenon lamp at λ = 402 nm.
Fig.7. Absorption spectra (top) and differential absorption
spectra (bottom) of MES capped gold nanoparticles in
DMEM solution and irradiated with Xenon lamp at
λ = 402 nm.
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