title: Visualizing gold nanoparticle uptake in live cells with liquid scanning transmission electron microscopy.
abstract: The intracellular uptake of 30 nm diameter gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) was studied at the nanoscale in pristine eukaryotic cells. Live COS-7 cells were maintained in a microfluidic chamber and imaged using scanning transmission electron microscopy. A quantitative image analysis showed that Au-NPs bound to the membranes of vesicles, possibly lysosomes, and occupied 67% of the available surface area. The vesicles accumulated to form a micrometer-sized cluster after 24 h of incubation. Two clusters were analyzed and found to consist of 117 ± 9 and 164 ± 4 NP-filled vesicles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232, United States.
authors.forename: Diana B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Peckys
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de Jonge
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004058:Diffusion; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D017348:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning Transmission / Q000379:methods*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions; D006046:Gold