Kang Mijeong, Kim Bongsoo
Department of Chemistry, KAIST, 291 Daehak-ro (373-1 Guseong-dong), Daejeon, 305-701, Korea.
Methods Mol Biol. 2015;1228:55-65. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1680-1_6.
Intracellular delivery of exogenous materials is an essential technique required for many fundamental biological researches and medical treatments. As our understanding of cell structure and function has been improved and diverse therapeutic agents with a subcellular site of action have been continuously developed, there is a demand to enhance the performance of delivering devices. Ideal intracellular delivery devices should convey various kinds of exogenous materials without deteriorating cell viability regardless of cell type and, furthermore, precisely control the location and the timing of delivery as well as the amount of delivered materials for advanced researches.In this chapter the development of a new intracellular delivery device, a nanoinjector made of a Au (gold) nanowire (a Au nanoinjector) is described in which delivery is triggered by external application of an electric pulse. As a model study, a gene was delivered directly into the nucleus of a neuroblastoma cell, and successful delivery without cell damage was confirmed by the expression of the delivered gene. The insertion of a Au nanoinjector directly into a cell can be generally applied to any kind of cell, and a high degree of surface modification of Au allows attachment of diverse materials such as proteins, small molecules, or nanoparticles as well as genes on Au nanoinjectors. This expands their applicability, and it is expected that they will provide important information on the effects of delivered exogenous materials and consequently contribute to the development of related therapeutic or clinical technologies.
将外源物质导入细胞内是许多基础生物学研究和医学治疗所需的一项关键技术。随着我们对细胞结构和功能的理解不断深入，以及具有亚细胞作用位点的各种治疗剂不断研发出来，人们对提高递送装置的性能有了需求。理想的细胞内递送装置应能输送各种外源物质，而不降低细胞活力，且不受细胞类型的影响，此外，为了进行深入研究，还应能精确控制递送的位置、时间以及递送物质的量。在本章中，将介绍一种新型细胞内递送装置——由金纳米线制成的纳米注射器（金纳米注射器）的研发情况，其递送过程由外部施加电脉冲触发。作为一项模型研究，将一个基因直接递送至神经母细胞瘤细胞的细胞核内，并通过所递送基因的表达证实了成功递送且未对细胞造成损伤。将金纳米注射器直接插入细胞的方法通常可应用于任何类型的细胞，并且金的高度表面修饰使得诸如蛋白质、小分子、纳米颗粒以及基因等各种物质能够附着在金纳米注射器上。这扩展了它们的适用性，预计它们将为所递送的外源物质的作用提供重要信息，从而有助于相关治疗或临床技术的发展。
