• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.465-469
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• 2004

Colloidal gold nanoparticles might be of use as nano scale delivery systems of various therapeutic materials in the future. Recent studies have reported the feasibility of colloidal gold nanoparticles as gene delivery systems or protein delivery systems. In this study, we aimed to develop a short-step method useful for screening the optimal coating conditions of colloidal gold nanoparticles with proteins. We observed that colloidal gold nanoparticles have properties of changing its unique color when they were exposed to NaCl solution. Taking advantage of the color changing properties of colloidal gold nanoparticles, we applied the color testing method of colloidal gold nanoparticles solutions for evaluating the protein coating nature. Using bovine serum albumin as a model protein, we tested the protein coating of colloidal gold nanoparticles via the color change upon NaCl addition. The optimal coating concentration and coating conditions of colloidal gold nanoparticles with bovine serum albumin were fixed using the color testing methods. We suggest that the color testing method might be applied to optimize the coating condition of colloidal gold nanoparticles with other therapeutic proteins.