Nanobiotechnology for health-care
Doxorubicin-induced aggregation of gold nanoparticles in aqueous solutions: implications for prodrug research
Goncharenko N.A.1, Pavlenko O.L.1, Dmytrenko O.P.1, Kulish M.P.1, Goncharova O.O.1, Tsegelna A.V.1, Demydov P.V.2, Lopatynskyi A.M.2,3, and Chegel V.I.2,3
1 Faculty of Physics, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Volodymyrska Street, 64/13, Kyiv-01601, Ukraine.
2 V.E. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Nauki Avenue, 41, Kyiv-03028, Ukraine.
E-mail: vche111@yahoo.com
3 Institute of High Technologies, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Volodymyrska Street, 64/13, Kyiv-01601, Ukraine.

Doxorubicin (Dox) belongs to anthracyclines with a pronounced antitumor effect and is widely used as a drug in chemotherapy. Due to its high cytotoxicity and related side effects, an active search for doxorubicin-based prodrugs continues. Recently, many studies have been devoted to the creation of a new type of prodrug, which are conjugates of this substrate with gold (AuNPs) nanoparticles [1]. At the same time, great attention should be paid to the stabilization of these nanoparticles, since they have tendency to aggregation, e.g. with proteins.
In present work, the interaction of Dox and bovine serum albumin (BSA) with citrate-stabilized AuNPs in aqueous solutions was investigated by optical absorption spectroscopy. On the one hand, the study of the time and concentration dependences of optical density indicates that coupling of the protonated molecules of the antibiotic with the citrated surface of the nanoparticles assists the aggregation of AuNPs with subsequent precipitation. Dox concentration in Dox-AuNPs conjugates was also estimated. On the other hand, spectroscopic data shows that BSA effectively forms coloidally stable complexes with AuNPs.
The results of the study indicate that competition of abovementioned concentration-dependent processes significantly complicates the behavior of Dox optical density spectra and should be studied in more detail.

1.	Bulavin L. A., Goncharenko N. A., Dmytrenko O. P., Pavlenko O. L., Kulish M. P., Goncharova O., Demydov P. V., Lopatynskyi A. M., Chegel V. I. Heteroassociation of antitumor agent doxorubicin with bovine serum albumin in the presence of gold nanoparticles // J Mol Liq.-2019.-284.-P. 633-638.