Phytosynthesis of gold nanoparticles: Characterization, biocompatibility, and evaluation of its osteoinductive potential for application in implant dentistry

Highlights: • Synthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) using Salacia chinensis bark (Green chemistry method) • Characterization of GNPs by using Zetasizer, XRD, AFM, TEM, and ICP-AES • In-vitro cyto-compatibility, blood compatibility, and stability studies of GNPs demonstrated its non-toxic and stable nature. • Exposure of GNPs to MG-63 cell lines revealed its osteoinductive potential. - Abstract: Gold nanoparticles have been extensively used in diagnostics, biomedical imaging, and drug delivery owing to simple method of synthesis and versatile surface functionalization. Present investigation aims to evaluate the osteoinductive property of Salacia chinensis (SC) mediated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) for its application in implant dentistry. The formation of GNPs was assessed initially using the visual method and characterized analytically by using UV–visible spectroscopy, Zetasizer, X-RD, ICP-AES, AFM, and TEM. Green synthesized GNPs exhibited a remarkable stability in various blood components (0.2 M histidine, 0.2 M cysteine 2% bovine serum albumin, and 2% human serum albumin) and were found to be nontoxic when evaluated for their cytocompatibility and blood compatibility using periodontal fibroblasts and erythrocytes respectively. Exposure of GNPs to MG-63 cell lines displayed increased percent cell viability (138 ± 27.4) compared to the control group (96 ± 3.7) which confirms its osteoinductive potential. Herein, it can be concluded that the stable, biocompatible and eco-friendly GNPs can be used as an effective bone inductive agent during dental implant therapy.