The Synthesis of Metallic Nanoparticles Using Human Healthy and Cancerous CELLS for Biomedical Applications

Bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics, and this behavior is becoming a real concern that will kill more people that all other known diseases by the year 2050. Therefore, new approaches far away from the current use of antibiotics are needed to kill harmful bacteria. Nanotechnology is presented here as a suitable answers since bacteria cannot develop a resistance to them.

Nanoparticles have been prepared using synthetic physicochemical methods for a long time, due to quick and easy protocols. Nevertheless, these methodologies are not free of drawbacks, such as the production of toxic by-products and aggregation problems that only can be avoided using functionalization post-synthesis. Green synthesis may be the answer to avoid all of these limitations, using living organisms, such as bacteria or fungi, or dietary compounds, such as honey, milk or tea.

In this research, we develop environmentally-friendly and quick methods for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles made of platinum, palladium, gold, and alloys of these elements, using human cells, both healthy and cancerous. Inoculation of neutral media containing cells with metallic salts leads to the generation of metal nanoparticles within the media that did not kill of the cells, which would naturally occur if the cells were presented in the neutral media. Besides, nanoparticles were then isolated and purified. These human cell-mediated syntheses of nanoparticles allowed for the generation of nanoparticles that can be used as both antibacterial agents and anticancer components.