Experimental and theoretical comparison of intracellular import of polymeric nanoparticles and small molecules : toward models of uptake kinetics

Central to understanding how nanoscale objects interact with living matter is the need for reproducible and verifiable data that can be interpreted with confidence. Likely this will be the basis of durable advances in nanomedicine and nanomedical safety. To develop these fields, there is also considerable interest in advancing the first generation of theoretical models of nanoparticle (NP) uptake into cells, and NP biodistribution in general. Here we present an uptake study comparing the outcomes for free molecular dye and NPs labeled with the same dye. A simple flux-based approach is presented to model NP uptake. We find that the intracellular NP concentration grows linearly in time, and that the uptake is essentially irreversible, with the particles accumulating in lysosomes. A wide range of practical challenges, from labile dye release to NP aggregation and the need to account for cell division, are addressed to ensure that these studies yield meaningful kinetic information.Science Foundation IrelandIrish Research Council for Science, Engineering and TechnologyEuropean Commission (FP6)On publication add details of citation to rights field - AV 11/10/2011 Details added - OR 24/11/11 ti, ot, sp - kpw1/11/1