2006 ) Determining the size and shape dependence of gold nanoparticle uptake into mammalian cells

We investigated the intracellular uptake of different sized and shaped colloidal gold nanoparticles. We showed that kinetics and saturation concentrations are highly dependent upon the physical dimensions of the nanoparticles (e.g., uptake half-life of 14, 50, and 74 nm nanoparticles is 2.10, 1.90, and 2.24 h, respectively). The findings from this study will have implications in the chemical design of nanostructures for biomedical applications (e.g., tuning intracellular delivery rates and amounts by nanoscale dimensions and engineering complex, multifunctional nanostructures for imaging and therapeutics). The chemical design and synthesis of nanoparticles have fueled the growth of nanotechnology. The foundation of nanotechnology research is based on the size and shape of the structures, where distinct optical, electronic, or magnetic properties can be tuned during chemical synthesis. There is an enormous interest in exploiting nanoparticles in various biomedical applications since their size scale is similar to that of biological molecules (e.g., proteins, DNA) and structures (e.g., viruses and bacteria). Furthermore, usefu