Different endocytotic uptake mechanisms for nanoparticles in epithelial cells and macrophages

• Dagmar A. Kuhn,
• Dimitri Vanhecke,
• Benjamin Michen,
• Fabian Blank,
• Peter Gehr,
• Alke Petri-Fink and
• Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1625–1636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.174

• ; endocytosis; inhibition; nanoparticles; uptake proteins; Introduction In recent years, the use of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) (defined as <100 nm in three dimensions according to ISO TS 27687:2008) has witnessed a strong rise in biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, specifically for targeted drug

• both particle types which was slightly reduced, but still negative, when the particles were suspended in unsupplemented RPMI medium (Figure 1). Expression of endocytotic uptake proteins in both cell types In order to define particle uptake routes, it is crucial in the first step to determine the

• lower extent than in the macrophages. Flotillin-1 could not be detected in A549 cells. Endocytotic inhibitors With the knowledge of the presence of specific uptake proteins, it is now feasible to elaborate on the different uptake routes in each cell type by applying different chemical inhibitors