Journal
ACS NANO
Volume 8, Issue 6, Pages 6288-6296Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/nn5017742
Keywords
gold nanoparticles; vapor nanobubbles; photoporation; intracellular delivery; siRNA; knockdown efficiency
Categories
Funding
- Ghent University Special Research Fund (Centre for Nano- and Biophotonics)
- China Scholarship Council (CSC)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
There is a great interest in delivering macromolecular agents into living cells for therapeutic purposes, such as siRNA for gene silencing. Although substantial effort has gone into designing nonviral nanocarriers for delivering macromolecules into cells, translocation of the therapeutic molecules from the endosomes after endocytosis into the cytoplasm remains a major bottleneck. Laser-induced photoporation, especially in combination with gold nanoparticles, is an alternative physical method that is receiving increasing attention for delivering macromolecules in cells. By allowing gold nanoparticles to bind to the cell membrane, nanosized membrane pores can be created upon pulsed laser illumination. Depending on the laser energy, pores are created through either direct heating of the AuNPs or by vapor nanobubbles (VNBs) that can emerge around the AuNPs. Macromolecules in the surrounding cell medium can then diffuse through the pores directly into the cytoplasm. Here we present a systematic evaluation of both photoporation mechanisms in terms of cytotoxicity, cell loading, and siRNA transfection efficiency. We find that the delivery of macromolecules under conditions of VNBs is much more efficient than direct photothermal disturbance of the plasma membrane without any noticeable cytotoxic effect. Interestingly, by tuning the laser energy, the pore size could be changed, allowing control of the amount and size of molecules that are delivered in the cytoplasm. As only a single nanosecond laser pulse is required, we conclude that VNBs are an interesting photoporation mechanism that may prove very useful for efficient high-throughput macromolecular delivery in live cells.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available