Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 May 15;94(10):3790-7.
doi: 10.1529/biophysj.107.120238. Epub 2008 Jan 30.

The receptor-mediated endocytosis of nonspherical particles

P Decuzzi  1 , M Ferrari
Affiliations

The receptor-mediated endocytosis of nonspherical particles

P Decuzzi et al. Biophys J. .

Abstract

Enveloped viruses and nanosized biomimetic particles for drug and gene delivery enter target cells mainly through receptor-mediated endocytosis. A few models have been presented to elucidate the mechanics of particle engulfment by the cell membrane, showing how size and surface chemico-physical properties favor or oppose internalization. In this work, the effect of particle nonsphericity is addressed considering elliptical cylindrical particles with aspect ratio Gamma. Using a continuum energetic approach, three different conditions have been identified: for sufficiently small Gamma, the particle is not even wrapped by the cell membrane; for sufficiently large Gamma, the particle is partially wrapped ("frustrated endocytosis"); and for intermediate values of Gamma, the particle is fully wrapped and eventually internalized. Given the pleomorphism of viruses and the broad spectrum of shapes for nanosized biomimetic particles, the results presented may be of interest to virologists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, and nanotechnologists.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
A nonspherical particle sitting on a cell membrane during the internalization process.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The half-wrapping time for a circular particle with R = 50 nm: theoretical solution given by Eq. 12 (solid line) and numerical solution given by solving incrementally Eq. 13 (small open circles) with a growing number of elements N.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The variation of the speed factor α as wrapping proceeds for different values of Γ (= 0.9; 0.95; 1.0; 1.05, and 1.1) with a fixed R2 = 50 nm.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The variation of the half-wrapping time and wrapping length ratio xmax/R1 as a function of the aspect ratio Γ, for a fixed R2 = 50 nm.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
The variation of the minimum half-wrapping time and corresponding aspect ratio Γmin as a function of the semi-length of the ellipse minor axis (R2 = 50 nm).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
The variation of the half-wrapping time and wrapping length ratio xmax/R1 as a function of the aspect ratio Γ, for a fixed volume (Rs = 50 nm).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Conner, S. D., and S. L. Schmid. 2003. Regulated portals of entry into the cell. Nature. 422:37–44. - PubMed
    1. Marsh, M., and A. Helenius. 2006. Virus entry: open sesame. Cell. 124:729–740. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vasir, J. K., and V. Labhasetwar. 2006. Polymeric nanoparticles for gene delivery. Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. 3:325–344. - PubMed
    1. Oberdorster, G., E. Oberdorster, and J. Oberdorster. 2005. Nanotoxicology: an emerging discipline evolving from studies of ultrafine particles. Environ. Health Perspect. 113:823–839. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Smith, A. E., and A. Helenius. 2004. How viruses enter animal cells. Science. 304:237–242. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources