Green Synthesis of Pectin-Gold-PLA-PEG-PLA Nanoconjugates: In Vitro Cytotoxicity and Anti-Inflammatory Activity

The gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been synthesized by a green chemical approach using the biopolymer pectin which is isolated from the orange peel. The pectin-AuNPs nanoconjugates are attached on the PLA-PEG-PLA triblock copolymer matrix by the ultra-sonication induced water-inoil (W/O) emulsion method. The pectin-AuNPs-PLA-PEG-PLA nanoconjugates are characterized by UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-Ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS results confirm the zero oxidation state of Au, while the TEM images confirm the spherical shape of 7-13 nm of AuNPs. The XRD analysis reveals that the AuNPs exhibit fcc crystal structure with an average crystallite size of 12 nm. The biocompatibility of the pectin-AuNPs-PLA-PEG-PLA nanoconjugates has been investigated by the in vitro cell line study on South African green monkey's kidney cells. The anti-inflammatory activity of the nanoconjugates has been established by the membrane stabilization and inhibition of protein denaturation methods. The pectin-AuNPs-PLA-PEG-PLA nanoconjugates exhibit better anti-inflammatory activity than pectin and pectin-AuNPs.