Eco-friendly synthesis and characterization of platinum-copper alloy nanoparticles induce cell death in human cervical cancer cells

Bimetallic nanoparticles are considered next generation materials with synergistic optical, electrical and catalytic properties. They are composed of two different metals and exhibit superior performance compared with their monometallic nanoparticles. However, the effects of bimetallic nanoparticles on cells and organisms are unknown. Specifically, the effects of platinum-copper alloy nanoparticles (Pt@Cu) on human cervical cancer cell (SiHa) viability, cytological morphology and cell cycle are not yet well studied. In the present study, we have developed a green synthetic route to synthesize Pt@Cu using Polyphenon 60 as a reducing as well as a functionalizing agent. The synthesized Pt@Cu morphological and compositional properties were analyzed using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, respectively. The electron microscopic images indicated the formation of spherical Pt@Cu aggregates, 30 nm in size. The cell viability assay revealed that Pt@Cu inhibit the cell proliferation and enhanced nuclear morphological changes including cell shrinkage, intranucleosomal DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation in SiHa cells. The cell cycle progression results suggest that Pt@Cu significantly increase the proportion of cells in the Sub GO phase, which clearly indicates Pt@Cu induced Sub GO phase arrest. Our finding suggests that bimetallic nanoparticles open up new opportunities for cancer therapeutics applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.