Comparative evaluation of the impact on endothelial cells induced by different nanoparticle structures and functionalization

Abstract

SummaryIn the research field of nanoparticles, many studies demonstrated a high impact of the shape, size and surface charge, which is determined by the functionalization, of nanoparticles on cell viability and internalization into cells. This work focused on the comparison of three different nanoparticle types to give a better insight into general rules determining the biocompatibility of gold, Janus and semiconductor (quantum dot) nanoparticles. Endothelial cells were subject of this study, since blood is the first barrier after intravenous nanoparticle application. In particular, stronger effects on the viability of endothelial cells were found for nanoparticles with an elongated shape in comparison to spherical ones. Furthermore, a positively charged nanoparticle surface (NH2, CyA) leads to the strongest reduction in cell viability, whereas neutral and negatively charged nanoparticles are highly biocompatible to endothelial cells. These findings are attributed to a rapid internalization of the NH2-functionalized nanoparticles in combination with the damage of intracellular membranes. Interestingly, the endocytotic pathway seems to be a size-dependent process whereas nanoparticles with a size of 20 nm are internalized by caveolae-mediated endocytosis and nanoparticles with a size of 40 nm are taken up by clathrin-mediated internalization and macropinocytosis. Our results can be summarized to formulate five general rules, which are further specified in the text and which determine the biocompatibility of nanoparticles on endothelial cells. Our findings will help to design new nanoparticles with optimized properties concerning biocompatibility and uptake behavior with respect to the respective intended application.

Effect of Aminated Mesoporous Bioactive Glass Nanoparticles on the Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells

“…After confirming the critical role of ATP in inducing endocytosis, and considering the cell type of rDPSCs, specific pathways were determined by 1 hour of pre-treatment with 5-(N-ethyl-N-isopropyl) amiloride, amantadine-HCl, and genistein added to the rDPSCs, which act as inhibitors of macropinocytosis, clathrin-mediated endocytosis, and caveolae-mediated endocytosis, respectively, and macropinocytosis was considered to have a major role in endocytosis [ 47 ]. Pretreatment with drugs to block specific endocytosis pathways has been widely used to determine the major endocytosis pathway in biological and nanoparticle research [ 47 – 50 ]. However, some researchers were uncertain about using drugs for blocking distinct endocytic pathways owing to poor specificity, cell line–dependent inhibitory effects, and cytotoxicity [ 51 , 52 ].…”

Uptake and intracellular accumulation of diamond nanoparticles – a metabolic and cytotoxic study

“…Adverse effects on cell viability have been reported when using DNDs [ 24 , 28 – 32 ], while HPHT NDs often appear to be nontoxic [ 33 – 34 ]. Factors influencing the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles are their size [ 24 , 35 – 36 ] and surface functionalization [ 37 ].…”

Viability and proliferation of endothelial cells upon exposure to GaN nanoparticles

“…For example, elongated, rod-like gold (Au) nanoparticles affect the viability of endothelial cells more than spherical ones, which have better biocompatibility [5]. However, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a diameter less than 30 nm are less toxic than particles larger than 50 nm [6].…”