Well characterized polyethyleneimine/carboxylated polyethylene glycol functionalized gold nanoparticles as prospective nanoscale control materials for in vitro cell viability assays: particle characterization and toxicity test in eight mammalian cell line

Published

January 7, 2025

Author(s)

Vytas Reipa, Vincent Hackley, Alessandro Tona, Min Beom Heo, Ye Ryeong Lee, Tae Geol Lee, Aaron Johnston-Peck, Tae Joon Cho

Abstract

Safety screening of manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) is essential for their adoption by consumers and the marketplace. Lately, animal-based testing is replaced by mechanistically informative in vitro assays due to requirements of regulatory agencies. Cell viability assays are widely employed for manufactured nanomaterial hazard screening as a first-tier approach. A critical part of such assays are positive and negative controls that serve as measurement benchmarks. We show that polyethyleneimine and carboxylate polyethylene glycol conjugated gold nanoparticles (AuPEI and Au-PEG-COOH) are qualified for positive and negative controls in the cell viability assays used for toxicological screening. We present cellular viability and corresponding particle characterization, obtained with eight different cell lines that were exposed to Au-PEI and Au-PEG-COOH nanoparticles. Their suitability for positive and negative controls, when applied in in vitro cytotoxicity screening of MNMs is discussed.

Citation

Nanotoxicology

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

nanomaterials, toxicology, controls, cell viability, gold nanoparticles, measurement, hazard screening

Citation

Reipa, V. , Hackley, V. , Tona, A. , Heo, M. , Lee, Y. , Lee, T. , Johnston-Peck, A. and Cho, T. (2025), Well characterized polyethyleneimine/carboxylated polyethylene glycol functionalized gold nanoparticles as prospective nanoscale control materials for in vitro cell viability assays: particle characterization and toxicity test in eight mammalian cell line, Nanotoxicology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=957881 (Accessed November 12, 2025)