Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India.
Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India.
Adv Mater. 2018 May;30(22):e1800429. doi: 10.1002/adma.201800429. Epub 2018 Apr 10.
Spatiotemporally controlled active manipulation of external micro-/nanoprobes inside living cells can lead to development of innovative biomedical technologies and inspire fundamental studies of various biophysical phenomena. Examples include gene silencing applications, real-time mechanical mapping of the intracellular environment, studying cellular response to local stress, and many more. Here, for the first time, cellular internalization and subsequent intracellular manipulation of a system of helical nanomotors driven by small rotating magnetic fields with no adverse effect on the cellular viability are demonstrated. This remote method of fuelling and guidance limits the effect of mechanical transduction to cells containing external probes, in contrast to ultrasonically or chemically powered techniques that perturb the entire experimental volume. The investigation comprises three cell types, containing both cancerous and noncancerous types, and is aimed toward analyzing and engineering the motion of helical propellers through the crowded intracellular space. The studies provide evidence for the strong anisotropy, heterogeneity, and spatiotemporal variability of the cellular interior, and confirm the suitability of helical magnetic nanoprobes as a promising tool for future cellular investigations and applications.
在活细胞内时空可控地主动操作外部微/纳米探针，可以开发创新的生物医学技术，并激发对各种生物物理现象的基础研究。例如基因沉默应用、细胞内环境的实时力学映射、研究细胞对局部应力的反应等等。在这里，首次展示了在不影响细胞活力的情况下，通过小旋转磁场驱动的螺旋纳米马达系统的细胞内化和随后的细胞内操作。与超声或化学动力技术相比，这种远程供能和导向方法将机械转导的影响限制在含有外部探针的细胞中，超声或化学动力技术会干扰整个实验体积。该研究包括三种细胞类型，既有癌细胞又有非癌细胞，并旨在分析和设计螺旋推进器在拥挤的细胞内空间中的运动。这些研究为细胞内部的强各向异性、异质性和时空可变性提供了证据，并证实了螺旋磁性纳米探针作为未来细胞研究和应用的有前途的工具的适用性。
