Sustainable Exscalar Monodispersed Gold Nanoparticles with Enhanced Dispersion Stability and Biocompatibility for Theragnostics

The stability and dispersity of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs)againstvarious biological, physicochemical, and physiological transformationswhile retaining biocompatibility are fundamental for their myriadutilization in various theragnostic applications. Besides, it wouldbe highly imperative if the AuNPs could be generated using environmentallysustainable procedures. Remarkably stable, monodispersed AuNPs withrobustness against centrifugation, freeze-thawing, lyophilization,acids, bases, electrolytes, and polar solvents are generated by utilizingfish scale wastes. The AuNPs inherited self-integrity and dispersityacross various clinically significant biological fluids includingphosphate buffer saline, growth mediums, human blood serum, saliva,and urine. Human blood serum interactions revealed negligible proteincorona consortium and biocompatibility with no hemolysis or cytotoxicitytoward peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Astonishingly, enduranceto all these biological, physicochemical, and physiological discrepancieswas comparable to that of universal stabilizer thiolated polyethyleneglycol (PEG) sorbed AuNPs. Such high stability and wide dispersityare attributed to the firm shielding of AuNPs by the oligopeptidefragments excreted from the scales, which also endowed AuNP functionalizationto diverse drugs. Notably, our results develop a biogenic productionof monodispersed AuNPs with natural sturdiness against harsh laboratoryand clinical environments to substitute the plunged biocompatibilityof PEG-Au sulfur chemisorption and PEG-Au physisorption approachesfor various imaging and drug delivery applications.