Exploring the cell uptake mechanism of phospholipid and polyethylene glycol coated gold nanoparticles

• Published in: Nanotechnology Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 045103 - 1-8
• Main Authors: Hao, Yuzhi, Yang, Xiaoyang, Song, Steven, Huang, Min, He, Chuan, Cui, Mingyang, Chen, Jie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IOP Publishing 03.02.2012
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Biocompatibility; Cell Death - drug effects; Cell Line, Tumor; Coating; Endocytosis - drug effects; Gold; Gold - chemistry; Gold - metabolism; Gold - pharmacology; Humans; Kinetics; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Metal Nanoparticles - ultrastructure; Nanoparticles; Phosphatidylglycerols - chemistry; Phosphatidylglycerols - metabolism; Phosphatidylglycerols - pharmacology; Polyethylene glycol; Polyethylene Glycols - chemistry; Polyethylene Glycols - metabolism; Polyethylene Glycols - pharmacology; Uptakes
• ISSN: 0957-4484; 1361-6528
• DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/23/4/045103

Recently, there has been a lot of interest in using gold nanoparticles (GNPs) for biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility. To increase GNP cell uptake and circulation half-life, and to improve its bio-distribution in vivo, we chose to coat GNPs with 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1′-rac-glycerol) (sodium salt) (POPG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). Two different methods were used to synthesize POPG-GNPs or PEG-GNPs, but the resulting nanoparticle sizes and morphologies were similar. Under the same incubation conditions, POPG-GNPs can be uptaken quicker than PEG-GNPs by cells-specifically, the maximum uptake was 8 h versus 16 h after incubation. In addition, the uptake amount of POPG-GNPs was more than that of PEG-GNPs. The uptake processes were confirmed by SEM and TEM images. The main reason for the greater uptake of POPG-GNPs can be attributed to the structural similarities between the POPG coating and the cell membrane as well as GNP aggregation.