The dependence of radiation enhancement effect on the concentration of gold nanoparticles exposed to low- and high-LET radiations

We examined the dependence of hydroxyl radical production on the concentration of 15 nm citrate-capped AuNPs and dose using coumarin-3-carboxylic acid in phosphate buffered saline (PBS), and investigated the radiosensitisation of different concentration AuNPs on human cervix carcinoma HeLa cells through clonogenic survival assay for X-rays and carbon ions. The enhancement factor of AuNPs for hydroxyl radical production reached a maximum 3.66 for X-rays at the concentration of 0.1 μg/mL while the maximum was 5.52 for carbon ions in presence of 1.0 μg/mL AuNPs in PBS. At 50% survival level, the sensitizer enhancement ratios of X-rays and carbon ions varied from 1.14 to 2.88 and from 1.27 to 1.44, respectively, when cells were co-cultured with 1.5-15.0 μg/mL AuNPs. Our data indicate AuNPs showed radiosensitisation in terms of hydroxyl radical production and cell killing for low- and high-LET radiations. The concentration of AuNPs in PBS and cells played an important role in radiosensitizing effect. Based on the fact-the AuNPs in PBS could improve the production of hydroxyl radical and no accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase was observed, we deduce that the increment of hydroxyl radical production with AuNPs provided a mechanism for radiosensitisation.