In vivo synthesis of EuSe nanoparticles and its cytotoxicity against cancer cells

Abstract

Nanotechnology strives to combine new materials for development of nanoparticles (NPs). As NPs exhibit unique optical, electronic, and magnetic properties depending on their composition, developing safe, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies for synthesis of NPs have become an important issue. In the present study, in vivo synthesis of europium selenide (EuSe) NPs was performed using recombinant Escherichia coli cells expressing heavy-metal binding proteins (HMBPs), phytochelatin synthase and metallothionein. The formation of EuSe NPs was verified by characterization using UV-vis spectrophotometry, spectrofluorometry, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray and transmission electron microscopy. The synthesized EuSe NPs exhibited high fluorescence intensity with strong magnetic properties. Furthermore, anticancer effect of EuSe NPs against cancer cell line was investigated. This result showed that the synthesized EuSe NPs have a great potential as bioimaging tools and drug carrying agents in biomedical fields. © Avestia Publishing, 2017.