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Review
. 2020 Aug 13:8:990.
doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00990. eCollection 2020.

Multifunctional Gold Nanoparticles: A Novel Nanomaterial for Various Medical Applications and Biological Activities

Xiaopei Hu  1 , Yuting Zhang  1 , Tingting Ding  1 , Jiang Liu  1 , Hang Zhao  1
Affiliations
Review

Multifunctional Gold Nanoparticles: A Novel Nanomaterial for Various Medical Applications and Biological Activities

Xiaopei Hu et al. Front Bioeng Biotechnol. .

Abstract

Nanotechnology has become a trending area in science and has made great advances with the development of functional, engineered nanoparticles. Various metal nanoparticles have been widely exploited for a wide range of medical applications. Among them, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are widely reported to guide an impressive resurgence and are highly remarkable. AuNPs, with their multiple, unique functional properties, and easy of synthesis, have attracted extensive attention. Their intrinsic features (optics, electronics, and physicochemical characteristics) can be altered by changing the characterization of the nanoparticles, such as shape, size and aspect ratio. They can be applied to a wide range of medical applications, including drug and gene delivery, photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT) and radiation therapy (RT), diagnosis, X-ray imaging, computed tomography (CT) and other biological activities. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive review that summarized the applications of AuNPs in the medical field. Therefore, in this article we systematically review the methods of synthesis, the modification and characterization techniques of AuNPs, medical applications, and some biological activities of AuNPs, to provide a reference for future studies.

Keywords: AuNPs; biological activities; characterization; medical applications; modification; synthesis.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The main morphologies of AuNPs.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Various connecting molecules of AuNPs.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The top–down and bottom–up approaches for AuNPs synthesis.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The four major steps of pyrolysis.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
The chemical synthesis of AuNPs using different reaction conditions.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
The factors affecting the size and shape of AuNPs.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Characterization of AuNPs.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
A schematic representation of medical applications for AuNPs.
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
The application of delivery carriers for AuNPs.
FIGURE 10
FIGURE 10
The application of PTT, PDT and RT for AuNPs.
FIGURE 11
FIGURE 11
The application of AuNPs on the LSPR.
FIGURE 12
FIGURE 12
A simple scheme for X-ray imaging.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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