Assessment of PEG and BSA-PEG gold nanoparticles cellular interaction

Abstract We report on the synthesis and characterization of two types of colloidal gold nanoparticles (AuNPs): coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG), PEG-AuNPs, and coated with PEG and bovine serum albumin (BSA), BSA-PEG-AuNPs. Surface modification by PEG and BSA is demonstrated by FTIR spectroscopy. On one hand, BSA coating prevents one of the commonly encountered problems related to the use of nanoparticles in vitro and in vivo , namely nanoparticle aggregation. Such finding is particularly important for applications related to drug delivery and therapy. On the other hand, the PEG-AuNPs are more suitable for sensing purposes, being surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active in vitro , on the A549 cell line. Both types of nanoparticles are biocompatible.