Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China.
Langmuir. 2021 Oct 12;37(40):11688-11694. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c01607. Epub 2021 Sep 30.
Understanding the impact of the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles (NPs) on cellular uptake is important to design optimal drug-delivery nanocarriers. Therein, the influence of NP elasticity on bio-nano-interactions remains elusive due to the complexity of factors affecting cellular uptake. Herein, we synthesized SiO capsules with tunable elasticity using metal-organic frameworks as templates to investigate their interactions with cells. Young's moduli of the resultant water-filled SiO capsules with identical size, shape, composition, and surface charge can be controlled from 3.8 MPa to 4.7 GPa via the variation of capsule shell thickness. As a result, increased elasticity of SiO capsules results in higher cellular uptake. Stiff SiO capsules have almost 9 times as much cellular uptake as the soft ones. In addition, the elasticity of SiO capsules influences cellular uptake pathways, where the clathrin-mediated pathway is preferred for stiff capsules while the uptake of the soft capsules is mostly mediated by a caveolae-dependent pathway. This work confirms the important role of NP elasticity in nonspecific cell interactions, which can provide a foundational understanding for engineering drug-delivery nanocarriers.
了解纳米粒子（NPs）的物理化学性质对细胞摄取的影响对于设计最佳的药物递送纳米载体非常重要。由于影响细胞摄取的因素复杂，NP 弹性对生物-纳米相互作用的影响仍然难以捉摸。在此，我们使用金属有机框架作为模板合成了具有可调节弹性的 SiO 胶囊，以研究它们与细胞的相互作用。通过改变胶囊壳厚度，具有相同尺寸、形状、组成和表面电荷的所得水填充 SiO 胶囊的杨氏模量可以从 3.8 MPa 控制到 4.7 GPa。结果，SiO 胶囊的弹性增加导致细胞摄取增加。硬 SiO 胶囊的细胞摄取量几乎是软胶囊的 9 倍。此外，SiO 胶囊的弹性会影响细胞摄取途径，其中刚性胶囊优先采用网格蛋白介导的途径，而软胶囊的摄取主要由穴样内陷依赖的途径介导。这项工作证实了 NP 弹性在非特异性细胞相互作用中的重要作用，这可为工程药物递送纳米载体提供基础理解。
