Biodistribution and toxicity of engineered gold nanoparticles: a review of in vitro and in vivo studies

Recent advances in wet chemical synthesis and biomolecular functionalization of gold nanoparticles have led to a dramatic expansion of their potential biomedical applications, including biosensorics, bioimaging, photothermal therapy, and targeted drug delivery. As the range of gold nanoparticle types and their applications continues to increase, human safety concerns are gaining attention, which makes it necessary to better understand the potential toxicity hazards of these novel materials. Whereas about 80 reports on the in vivo biodistribution and in vitro cell toxicity of gold nanoparticles are available in the literature, there is lack of correlation between both fields and there is no clear understanding…