TARGETING CANCER CELLS WITH FLUORESCENTLY LABELED GNR S /DNA COMPLEXES

The electrostatic interaction between gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and DNA is one of the most viable functionalization route to obtain stable GNPs bioconjugates. To this purpose, we have studied the electrostatic interaction between positively charged gold nanorods (GNRs) and negatively charged, labeled, short DNA in terms of DNA concentration, ? potential, hydrodynamic diameter and gel electrophoresis analysis. In the light of nanomedicine applications, we have incubated complexes of DNA/GNRs, at two different concentrations, with HeLa cells (cancer cells of the uterine cervix). By using the DNA as a localized fluorescent probe, we have evaluated the uptake capacity as well as the morphology of the cells by means of fluorescent and optical microscope, establishing the upper limit concentration for the cellular toxicity.