The morphology of nanoparticles (NPs) has been presumed to play an important role in cellular uptake and in vivo stability. This report experimentally demonstrates such dependence by using two types of uniform-sized self-assembled... more
The morphology of nanoparticles (NPs) has been presumed to play an important role in cellular uptake and in vivo stability. This report experimentally demonstrates such dependence by using two types of uniform-sized self-assembled lipid-based NPs, namely nanodiscs and nanovesicles, composed of identical lipid composition. The morphology is characterized by small angle neutron scattering, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Both NPs have similar bio-stability in serum and cellular cytotoxicity. However, cellular uptake of the nanodiscs at 37 °C is consistently and significantly higher than that of the vesicles according to the uptake results of several human cancer cell lines, i.e., CCRFCEM, KB, and OVCAR-8, indicating a strong morphological dependence of cellular internalization. Further studies on such morphological dependence using CCRF-CEM reveals that vesicles only use Clathrin- and caveolae-mediated endocytic pathways, while nanodiscs also take the additional routes of macropinocytosis and microtubule-mediated endocytosis.
The morphology of nanoparticles (NPs) has been presumed to play a major role in cellular uptake and in vivo stability. This report experimentally demonstrates such dependence by using two types of uniform-sized self-assembled lipid-based... more
The morphology of nanoparticles (NPs) has been presumed to play a major role in cellular uptake and in vivo stability. This report experimentally demonstrates such dependence by using two types of uniform-sized self-assembled lipid-based NPs, namely nanodiscs and nanovesicles, composed of identical lipid composition. The morphology is characterized by small angle neutron scattering, dynamic light scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. Both NPs have similar biostability in serum and cellular cytotoxicity. However, cellular uptake of the nanodiscs at 37°C is consistently and significantly higher than that of the vesicles according to the uptake results of several human cancer cell lines, i.e., CCRF-CEM, KB, and OVCAR-8, indicating a strong morphological dependence of cellular internalization. Further studies on such morphological dependence using CCRF-CEM reveals that vesicles only use Clathrinand caveolae-mediated endocytic pathways, while nanodiscs also take the additiona...
Bicellar mixtures have been used as alignable membrane substrates for the structural characterization of membrane-associated proteins. Most recently, it has been shown that bicelles can serve as nanocarriers to effectively deliver... more
Bicellar mixtures have been used as alignable membrane substrates for the structural characterization of membrane-associated proteins. Most recently, it has been shown that bicelles can serve as nanocarriers to effectively deliver hydrophobic molecules to cancer cells with a 3- to 10-fold enhancement compared to that of chemically identical liposomes. In this chapter, a detailed preparation protocol, common structural characterization methods, the structural stability and the cellular uptake of bicellar nanodisks are discussed.
