State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Phys Rev Lett. 2020 May 15;124(19):198102. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.198102.
Active particles are widely recognized to potentially revolutionize technologies in numerous biomedical applications. However, the physical origin behind cellular uptake of these particles in the nonequilibrium state remains scarcely understood. Here we combine Brownian dynamics simulation as well as theoretical analysis to provide the criterion for cellular uptake of active particles, related to various physical attributes. Upon enhancing the activity, the uptake efficiency for the active particles with tilted orientation is examined to be nonmonotonic, in stark contrast to the monotonic dependence for active particles orientated normally to the membrane. This can be attributed to the interplay between membrane adhesion energy and kinetic energy of active particles, resulting in unique kinetic pathways. Furthermore, a theoretical model that captures the essential physics of the cellular endocytosis process is developed to reproduce this nonmonotonic feature. The results are of immediate interest to understand and tune activity-mediated cellular interaction and internalization of such emerging colloids.
活性粒子有望在众多生物医学应用中带来技术革新，这已得到广泛认可。然而，在非平衡状态下，细胞摄取这些粒子的物理起源仍鲜为人知。在这里，我们结合布朗动力学模拟和理论分析，为细胞摄取活性粒子提供了一个准则，这个准则与各种物理属性有关。在增强活性的情况下，我们考察了倾斜取向的活性粒子的摄取效率，发现其是非单调的，这与膜垂直取向的活性粒子的单调依赖形成鲜明对比。这可以归因于膜粘附能量和活性粒子的动能之间的相互作用，从而产生了独特的动力学途径。此外，我们还开发了一个能够捕捉细胞胞吞过程基本物理特性的理论模型，以再现这种非单调特征。这些结果对于理解和调整活性介导的细胞相互作用以及此类新兴胶体的内化具有直接的意义。
