New findings about entry of nanoparticles into cells published in Nano Letters
Christina Tekle is fist author and Tore-Geir Iversen is senior author on a recent paper entitled Cellular trafficking of Quantum dot-Ligand bioconjugates and their induction of changes in normal routing of unconjugated ligands, published online in the June 21st. issue of Nano Letters (impact factor: 10.0).
Entry of nanoparticles into cells: Characterization of endocytic pathways and their induction of changes in normal cellular transport
Nanoparticles hold a great potential for targeted delivery of small molecules, peptides and nucleic acids to specific cells and organelles, and as probes in cellular imaging techniques. Quantum dots are fluorescent semiconductor nanocrystals characterized by their uniform size, extreme brightness and extended photostability.
Tore-Geir Iversen and co-workers exploited their extensive knowledge about intracellular transport of the protein toxins ricin and Shiga toxin. They found that Qdots that were coupled to these toxins did not act as relevant intracellular probes to investigate routing of these ligands in live cells by fluorescence microscopy.
Importantly, the results demonstrated for the first time that intracellular trafficking of a ligand-nanoparticle bioconjugate can also change the intracellular routing of other unconjugated ligands. Thus, uptake of nanoparticles and their accumulaton within endosomes of the cells may have severe consequences on cell physiology.
Links:
Cellular Trafficking of Quantum Dot-Ligand Bioconjugates and Their Induction of Changes in Normal Routing of Unconjugated Ligands (link to article in Nano Letters)