Silver and silver-iron nanoparticles synthesized by photoreduction for applications in cancer therapy

Abstract

Metal nanoparticles have been extensively studied for various purposes including therapeutic applications for cancer. In this study, nanoparticles of silver and silver-iron with aminolevulinic acid (ALA) were synthesized using (ALA:AgNPs and ALA:AgFeNPs) the photoreduction method with a 300 W xenon lamp, characterized by UV/vis absorption, zeta potential, x-rays diffraction, FTIR and transmission electron microscopy. The sizes obtained were ~ 23 nm for silver and ~ 12 nm for iron. Cytotoxicity assays were performed on breast tumor cells (MCF-7) and prostate cancer cells (LNCaP). The results obtained showed that it was possible to synthesize silver and silver-iron nanoparticles by the photoreduction method, and to functionalize their surfaces with ALA, which was delivered to the cells and converted to protoporphyrin IX (PpIX).