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Biomedical Applications of Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles: A Review

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Abstract

Metal nanoparticles are widely applied in various biomedical applications because of their unique physicochemical properties. The new and unique properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) including, biocompatibility, low cytotoxicity, and optical properties, make them valuable for applications of biomedical fields including, biosensing, bioimaging, cancer therapy of cancer, and drug delivery. Utilization of AuNPs in radiotherapy and photothermal therapy has created a novel platform for primary diagnosis and cancer therapy. Owing to AuNPs' large surface area, chemical functional groups or biological molecules like drug molecules can be immobilized on gold surface. Thus, the surface functionalization of AuNPs makes them a good carrier for targeted drug delivery. This review focuses on new progress in processes of the functionalization of AuNPs and their possible biomedical applications.

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Adapted from Ref. [131], 2016, IOP

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Adapted from Ref. [6], 2011, MDPI

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their sincere thanks to the pharmaceutical sciences research center of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences for financial support.

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  1. Kazem Nejati and Mehdi Dadashpour have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran

    Kazem Nejati

  2. Stem Cell Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Mehdi Dadashpour

  3. Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Tohid Gharibi

  4. Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Hassan Mellatyar

  5. Department of Medical Nanotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Medical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Abolfazl Akbarzadeh

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  1. Kazem Nejati
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  2. Mehdi Dadashpour
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Correspondence to Kazem Nejati or Abolfazl Akbarzadeh.

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Nejati, K., Dadashpour, M., Gharibi, T. et al. Biomedical Applications of Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles: A Review. J Clust Sci 33, 1–16 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10876-020-01955-9

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