Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Selective Targeting of Tachyzoites Using Antibody-Functionalized Gold Nanorods

Nano Lett. 2007 Nov 23; [Epub ahead of print]

A Golden Bullet? Selective Targeting of Toxoplasma gondii Tachyzoites Using Antibody-Functionalized Gold Nanorods

Pissuwan D, Valenzuela SM, Miller CM, Cortie MB

Institute for Nanoscale Technology, Department of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Conjugates of gold nanoparticles and antibodies have useful functionalities. Here, we show how they can be used to selectively target and destroy parasitic protozoans. Gold nanorods were conjugated with an anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibody and used to target the extracellular tachyzoite which is an infectious form of an obligate parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Subsequent laser irradiation was used to kill the targeted protozoans. This concept provides a new paradigm for the treatment of parasitic protozoans.

PMID: 18034505 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

1 comment:

michele3d said...

Hi Bill,

Enjoyed your blog. Have you seen the latest on the gold nanoparticles?

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3345/gold-nanoparticles-take-out-brain-parasite?page=0%2C0

Michele