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
Review
. 2015 Dec;2(4):273-80.
doi: 10.1093/rb/rbv024. Epub 2015 Dec 3.

Effects of the physicochemical properties of gold nanostructures on cellular internalization

Ningqiang Gong  1 , Shizhu Chen  2 , Shubin Jin  1 , Jinchao Zhang  2 , Paul C Wang  3 , Xing-Jie Liang  1
Affiliations
Review

Effects of the physicochemical properties of gold nanostructures on cellular internalization

Ningqiang Gong et al. Regen Biomater. 2015 Dec.

Abstract

Unique physicochemical properties of Au nanomaterials make them potential star materials in biomedical applications. However, we still know a little about the basic problem of what really matters in fabrication of Au nanomaterials which can get into biological systems, especially cells, with high efficiency. An understanding of how the physicochemical properties of Au nanomaterials affect their cell internalization is of significant interest. Studies devoted to clarify the functions of various properties of Au nanostructures such as size, shape and kinds of surface characteristics in cell internalization are under way. These fundamental investigations will give us a foundation for constructing Au nanomaterial-based biomedical devices in the future. In this review, we present the current advances and rationales in study of the relationship between the physicochemical properties of Au nanomaterials and cell uptake. We also provide a perspective on the Au nanomaterial-cell interaction research.

Keywords: cellular internalization; gold nanostructures; size, shape; surface chemistry.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Size-dependent exocytosis of Au NPs. (A) Exocytosis fraction of 14–100 nm Au NPs in three cell lines. (B) Kinetics of Au NP exocytosis. Adapted with permission from [16], Copyright 2007 American Chemical Society.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Size-dependent receptor-mediated internalization of Au NPs. Reproduced with permission [27] Copyright 2008, Nature Publishing Group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Au based nanomaterials with different structures. The picture of Au nanocage and nanohexapods Reproduced with permission of [58] Copyright 2013, American Chemical Society; The picture of nanoparticles Reproduced with permission [59] Copyright 2011, American Chemical Society; The picture of nanorods Reproduced with permission [60] Copyright 2014, The Royal Society of Chemistry; The picture of nanoshells Reproduced with permission [61] Copyright 2005,American Chemical Society.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cross sections of three different shaped gold nanostructure–PEG–antibody (nanosphere, nanocage and nanorod).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scheme of designed multifunctional Au NPs with several surface ligands. Reproduced with permission [54]. Copyright 2012, Elsevier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boisselier E, Astruc D. Gold nanoparticles in nanomedicine: preparations, imaging, diagnostics, therapies and toxicity. Chem Soc Rev 2009;38:1759–82. - PubMed
    1. Moghimi SM, Hunter AC, Murray JC. Nanomedicine: current status and future prospects. FASEB J 2005;19: 311–30. - PubMed
    1. Mornet S, Vasseur S, Grasset F., et al. Magnetic nanoparticle design for medical diagnosis and therapy. J Mater Chem 2004;14:2161–75.
    1. Jun Y-W, Seo J-W, Oh SJ, et al. Recent advances in the shape control of inorganic nano-building blocks. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2005;249:1766–75.
    1. Malenfant PR, Wan J, Taylor ST, et al. Self-assembly of an organic–inorganic block copolymer for nano-ordered ceramics. Nat Nanotechnol 2007;2:43–6. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources