Table 1 Variables affecting nanoparticle uptake and subcellular localization
Nanoparticle | Cell type | Localization | Uptake mechanism | References |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. NP size | ||||
50 nm silica magnetic NP | A549 lung cancer | Endosomal | CME | Kim et al. [12] |
24 and 43 nm Polystyrene(PST) | HeLa | 24 nm = perinuclear, 43 nm = lysosome | 24 nm = CME independent, 43 nm = CME | Lai et al. [13] |
100 nm PLGA | Primary RHEC | Membrane bound, intracellular | Clathrin?, Caveolin independent | Qaddoumi et al. [32] |
78 nm–1 μm Microspheres | RBC | Cytoplasm | Passive uptake? | Rothen-Rutishauser et al. [14] |
40 nm–4.5 μm Microshperes | Dendritic | Cytoplasm and membrane bound | No experimental evidence | Foged et al. [11] |
2. NP charge | ||||
PEG-PLA NP(+) and (−) charge | HeLa | Both types perinuclear | (+) NP = CME/macropinocytosis, (−) NP = CME/caveolin independent | Harush-Frenkel et al. [30] |
100 nm MSN (uncoated, weak, moderate, and strong (+) charge) | hMSC and 3T3-L1 | No experimental evidence | hMSC: uncoated, weak, mod. (+) = CME, strong (+) unknown. 3T3-L1 = All CME | Chung et al. [10] |
3. Cell type | ||||
78 nm–1 μm PST Microsphere | Macrophage vs. RBC | Intracellular, not membrane bound | Macrophage: 1 μm = phagocytosis, .078–0.2 μm = actin-independent; RBC: all actin-independent | Geiser et al. [33] |
MSN strongly (+) | hMSC vs. 3T3-L1 | No experimental evidence | hMSC = CME-independent, 3T3-L1 = CME | Chung et al. [10] |
4. Surface modifications | ||||
Folic acid-LDL NP | KB Cells (FR+) | Cytoplasm, not in nucleus | Receptor mediated endocytosis | Zheng et al. [38] |
PVA and vitamin E TPGS coated PLGA NPs | Caco-2 | Cytoplasm and nucleus | No experimental evidence | Win and Feng [108] |
Trastuzumab—HSA NP | BT-474 and SK-BR-3 | No experimental evidence | Receptor mediated endocytosis | Steinhauser et al. [40] |
Tat peptide conjugated Gold NP | hTERT-BJ1 fibroblast | Nucleus | No experimental evidence | de la Fuente and Berry [73] |