In vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo sub-acute oral toxicity assessment of porphyran reduced gold nanoparticles

The aim of this study was to establish a toxicologic profile of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) (surface plasmon resonance at 520nm and average particle size 14 +/- 2 nm) synthesized using novel polysaccharide porphyran isolated from marine red algae. The toxicology profile includes in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo sub-acute oral toxicity study (OECD guideline 407) of porphyran-reduced AuNP. In vitro cytotoxicity study of porphyran-reduced AuNP (10, 50 or 100 mu M) was carried out employing normal monkey kidney cell line (VERO), which demonstrated a nontoxic nature of nanoparticles. Further, in vivo sub-acute oral toxicity study was performed with three different doses of AuNP (375, 750, and 1500 ppm kg(-1) day(-1)) in Wistar rats up to 28 days. Results revealed that porphyran-reduced AuNP did not produce any body weight, hematological or biochemical abnormalities in rats. Hence, data indicated that porphyran-reduced AuNP can be considered as potential safe vehicles for drug delivery application.