Gold–chitin–manganese dioxide ternary composite nanogels for radio frequency assisted cancer therapy

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) based chitin-MnO₂ ternary composite nanogels (ACM-TNGs) were prepared by the regeneration of chitin along with MnO₂ nanorods (5–20 nm) and the incorporation of 10 nm sized Au-NPs to make “ACM-TNGs”. They were characterized with FT-IR, TG, and UV spectroscopy. The SEM showed spindle shaped 200 nm sized chitin–MnO₂ nanogels (chitin–MnO₂ NGs), whereas ACM-TNGs had spindle sizes of 220 nm. The ACM-TNGs were compatible up to 1 mg mL⁻¹ and showed uptake into L929, HDF, MG63, T47D and A375 cell lines without affecting the cellular morphology. ACM-TNGs showed conductivity, and heating under a radio frequency (RF) source at 100 W for 2 min. They also showed the ability to kill breast cancer cells under RF radiation at 100 W for 2 min, when compared with the chitin–MnO₂ NGs. The RF assisted ablation of breast cancer cells was confirmed by a live/dead assay. These results suggests that ACM-TNGs could be useful for the RF assisted cancer cells ablation with minimal toxicity compared with MnO₂ nanorods.