In-Vitro Study of Cell Growth using Silver and Gold Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of gold and silver are commonly used in making sensors, probes, conducting inks, optical spectroscopies, diagnostic catalysts etc. Nanoparticles of these noble metals are also used as an antibacterial agent. Wound healing property and rate of wound healing using metals nanoparticles are under investigation and it has become frontier research area of current times. To explore the tissue growth property of these nanoparticles, the scratch assay has been performed on various metal nanoparticles under similar conditions of concentration and time duration. Biological synthesis route is used to synthesized metal nanoparticles. Nanoparticles of silver and gold were prepared using aloe vera (A) and turmeric (T) extract and for comparison purpose, these were also synthesized using chemicals in the same size range.

DMEM medium along with embryonic serum was used for the culture in standard culture Petri-dishes. The growth of the cells has been measured in terms of the area retrieved from scratch. Area of the empty portion is measured at the time the scratch is made (Day 0). Different nanoparticles were inoculated in these Petri-dishes and the area recovered via cell growth is measured after one day (Day 1) and two days (Day 2) later. It is observed that silver nanoparticles prepared using aloe vera and turmeric extracts is giving continuous cell growth under the entire duration of the study. However, for other agents used there is an initial growth and then a deterioration was observed. We also carried out the scratch test by varying the concentration of the agents used for inoculations. The results obtained using various nanoparticles were compared with the distilled water and known anti-hemorrhagic and antiseptic agents.