Gold nanoparticle trafficking of typically excluded compounds across the cell membrane in JB6 Cl 41-5a cells causes assay interference

Abstract

Nanoparticles (NP) often interfere with the mechanism and interpretation of high throughput in vitro toxicity assays. This interference may occur at any time during the assay and spans most NP systems. This study reports on a specific type of gold NP assay interference, where unmodified gold NPs were able to traffic certain assay molecules that contained primary amines across the cell membrane resulting in false positive results for toxicity assays. The enhanced assay molecule permeability was eliminated when the gold NP surface was both sterically and chemically blocked by polyethylene glycol (PEG). The results support the growing consensus that appropriate controls and assay validation should occur prior to interpretation of results of assays using NP.

Keywords::

• Nanoparticles
• nano-surfaces

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Mansour Khan, FDA, for the use of his TECAN plate reader, Alan Carlin, FDA, for assistance with FT-IR, and Drs Ken McDermott and Benita Dair for the use of their division's TGA and TEM, respectively.

Disclaimer

The findings and conclusions in this article have not been formally disseminated by the Food and Drug Administration and should not be construed to represent any Agency determination or policy. The mention of commercial products, their sources, or their use in connection with material reported herein is not to be construed as either an actual or implied endorsement of such products by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.