Synthesis and toxicity of bio-templated fluorescent metal nanoclusters in human Neuro-2a cells

Bio-templated fluorescent metal nanoclusters (fMNC) have attracted a great deal of attention recently for their potential applications in sensing, cellular imaging, and as photonic probes. More recently, there have been reports of in situ synthesis of fluorescent MNC by tumorigenic (cancerous) as well as healthy animal cell cultures. Here we present the synthesis of Au and Fe nanoclusters synthesized in vitro using human neuro-2a cells. Additionally, protein (BSA and Chicken Egg-White) synthesized fMNCs were also incubated in neuro-2a cells. The cells exhibit significant uptake of protein-templated fMNCs. In both cases the cells exhibited significant viability at relatively elevated metal concentration, up to tens of micrograms.
^*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: Electronic mail: karima.j.perry.ctr@mail.mil