Antitumor Activity of Gold Nanoparticles Synthesized using Penicillium citrinum

Nanoparticles (NPs) are currently used for cancer therapeutics in clinical domain. Attempts were made during present investigation to synthesize Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs and study its use against breast cancer cell line MCF-7. For this purpose the fungus, Penicillum citrinum (MEBPOO1) was isolated from leaf surface of Althea rosea, and its extract was prepared in distilled water. Equal volumes of fungal extract and chloroaurate (AuHCL_4.4H₂o) solution were mixed to produce gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The NPs-forming was confirmed by using ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS). The synthesized AuNPs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force spectroscopy (AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The AuNPs showed an absorption peak at 551 nm, with an average size between 12-40 nm. Those were with spherical shape, XRD pattern exposed the angles to 77.2°,64.2°,43.9°,37.3°, respectively. EDX profiling verified those as made from gold (Au). The antitumor activity of AuNPs was determined by MTT method on human breast cancer cell (MCF-7). AuNPs exhibited cytotoxicity on MCF-7 cell line, the severity of which was dose dependent. This produce of producing different sizes of gold nanoparticles has been found most suitable, which can be widely used in various applications such as electronics, optics and biomedicine.