Trimetallic BSA-Au-Ag-Fe nanoclusters as a bimodal probe for fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging.

This article refers about a synthesis of trimetallic nanoclusters (TNCs) consisting of Au, Ag, Fe ions capped by bovine serum albumin (BSA). Manufactured TNCs and their/its bimetallic and monometallic siblings were characterised by fluorescence spectroscopy; and the quantum yield (QY). Changes in secondary protein structure, charge, and size of BSA for each type of metal ions were investigated using circular dichroism (CD), zeta-potential, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) . This is the first full report analysing the effect of the aforementioned metal ions on BSA via microwave assisted synthesis. Finally, the as-prepared TNCs underwent biocompatibility tests by the Alamar Blue assay performed on the Hep G2 carcinoma cell line to determine the limit concentrations of TNCs cell toxicity. We presume as-synthesised TNCs may potentially serve as a fluorescence and MRI bimodal probes due to their good tolerance by the Hep G2 cell line at relatively high metal concentrations.