title: Pentacle gold-copper alloy nanocrystals: a new system for entering male germ cells in vitro and in vivo.
abstract: Gold-based nanocrystals have attracted considerable attention for drug delivery and biological applications due to their distinct shapes. However, overcoming biological barriers is a hard and inevitable problem, which restricts medical applications of nanomaterials in vivo. Seeking for an efficient transportation to penetrate biological barriers is a common need. There are three barriers: blood-testis barrier, blood-placenta barrier, and blood-brain barrier. Here, we pay close attention to the blood-testis barrier. We found that the pentacle gold-copper alloy nanocrystals not only could enter GC-2 cells in vitro in a short time, but also could overcome the blood-testis barrier and enter male germ cells in vivo. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the entrance efficiency would become much higher in the development stages. The results also suggested that the pentacle gold-copper alloy nanocrystals could easier enter to germ cells in the pathological condition. This system could be a new method for theranostics in the reproductive system.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center of Advanced Nanocatalysis (CAN-USTC), Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Basic Medical College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230032, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Center of Advanced Nanocatalysis (CAN-USTC), Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yushan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathophysiology, Basic Medical College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230032, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000497:Alloys / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D001814:Blood-Testis Barrier; D002460:Cell Line; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D005854:Germ Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000378:metabolism; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D053758:Nanoparticles; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D013093:Spermatogonia / Q000187:drug effects; D013737:Testis; D000068936:Theranostic Nanomedicine
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; D035683:MicroRNAs; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D006046:Gold; D003300:Copper; D004247:DNA