Green synthesis of pullulan stabilized gold nanoparticles for cancer targeted drug delivery

Abstract The aim of this study was to synthesize green chemistry based gold nanoparticles using liver specific biopolymer and to develop a liver cancer targeted drug delivery system with enhanced efficacy and minimal side effects. Pullulan stabilized gold nanoparticles (PAuNPs) were coupled with 5-Fluorouracil (5-Fu) and folic acid (Fa) which could be used as a tool for targeted drug delivery and imaging of cancer. The toxicity of 5-Fu, 5-Fu adsorbed gold nanoparticles (5-Fu@AuNPs), Fa-coupled 5-Fu adsorbed gold nanoparticles (5-Fu@AuNPs-Fa), was studied using zebrafish embryo as an in vivo model. The in vitro cytotoxicity of free 5-Fu, 5-Fu@AuNPs, 5-Fu@AuNPs-Fa against HepG2 cells was studied and found that the amount of 5-Fu required to achieve 50% of growth of inhibition (Ic 50 ) was much lower in 5-Fu@AuNP-Fa than in free 5-Fu, 5-Fu@AuNPs. The in vivo biodistribution of PAuNPs showed that higher amount of gold had been accumulated in liver (54.42 ± 5.96 μg) than in other organs.