BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Using gold nanoparticles for cancer treatment has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. Entry of these nanoparticles into cells is one the problems that influences the effectiveness of the treatment. The purpose of this study is to identify the destructive effects of amino acid lysine-coated gold nanoparticles on PC12 cancer cells.

METHODS: In this empirical study, gold nanoparticles were prepared using low temperature hydrothermal technique. After obtaining PC12 cells from Pasteur Institute of Iran and culturing them, we divided them into 7 treatment groups with concentrations of 0.5, 2.5 and 5 μM gold nanoparticles, with and without lysine coating; plus one control group. The cytotoxic effect of nanoparticles was assessed using MTT assay and LDH release from cells. In addition, cell morphology and amount of ROS (reactive oxygen species) within cells were examined.

FINDINGS: According to the results of this study, a 40% increase in cell death occurred as a result of exposure to 25 μM amino acid lysine-coated gold nanoparticles, which was significantly higher than the group treated by uncoated gold nanoparticles (18% cell death) (p≤0.001). In addition, incubating cells with coated and uncoated nanoparticles increased the amount of ROS and mechanism of cell death through apoptosis.

CONCLUSION: Results of the study revealed that lysine-coated gold nanoparticles have promising effects on destruction of PC12 cancer cells and they direct cell death towards apoptosis.