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Review
. 2011 Jun 14;1(1):31-63.
doi: 10.3390/nano1010031.

Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles and Their Biomedical Applications

Pooja M Tiwari  1 , Komal Vig  2 , Vida A Dennis  3 , Shree R Singh  4
Affiliations
Review

Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles and Their Biomedical Applications

Pooja M Tiwari et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

Metal nanoparticles are being extensively used in various biomedical applications due to their small size to volume ratio and extensive thermal stability. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are an obvious choice due to their amenability of synthesis and functionalization, less toxicity and ease of detection. The present review focuses on various methods of functionalization of GNPs and their applications in biomedical research. Functionalization facilitates targeted delivery of these nanoparticles to various cell types, bioimaging, gene delivery, drug delivery and other therapeutic and diagnostic applications. This review is an amalgamation of recent advances in the field of functionalization of gold nanoparticles and their potential applications in the field of medicine and biology.

Keywords: bioimaging; biosensor; drug delivery; functionalization; gene delivery; gold nanoparticles.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Types of functionalization of gold nanoparticles and their potential biomedical applications.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
PEGylated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) for gene delivery.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Functionalized GNPs (fGNPs) for drug delivery: Targeting specific cells with higher loading efficiency, targeted delivery and efficient release of drugs.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
GNPs functionalized with cell specific peptides for bioimaging.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
fGNP based biosensor for the detection of serum proteins.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Antibody functionalized GNPs for use in immunoassay.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
GNPs functionalized with ssDNA for Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
Gold nanoparticles functionalized with specific markers for Biodistribution studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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