title: Uptake and intracellular fate of surface-modified gold nanoparticles.
abstract: Understanding and controlling the interactions between nanoscale objects and living cells is of great importance for arising diagnostic and therapeutic applications of nanoparticles and for nanotoxicology studies. Here we report a detailed transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study of the uptake of ca. 16 nm surface-modified gold nanoparticles by human fibroblast cells (HeLa cells). It is demonstrated that the well-established endosomal route of cellular uptake can be bypassed to a significant extent by controlling the uptake mechanism either via the delivery of the nanoparticles by liposomes or by surface modification of the nanoparticles with so-called cell penetrating peptides (CPPs). Successful nuclear targeting is demonstrated using surface modification with a cocktail of CPPs and a peptide acting as a nuclear localization signal (NLS).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nativo
authors.forename: Ian A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Prior
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brust
mesh_terms: D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D013347:Subcellular Fractions / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D006046:Gold