Owing to the growing potential of nanoparticles for applications as biomedical agents, and the current concens regarding the toxicity of nanoscale objects, there is a topical interest in understanding and possibly controlling the mechanisms by which such materials transfer across biological membranes. The currrent paradigm implies that only very small and neutral molecules are capable of direct transfer due to their ability to partition between the hydrophobic membrane and its aqueous environment. Nevertheless, there is a growing number of observations that suggest that also larger units such as functionalised gold nanoparticles can cross membrane boundaries without depending on complex biological processes such as endocytosis. In this contribution, such  observations from both cell cultures and model membrane systems are discussed, and attemps are made to rationalise the possibility of direct membrane penetration by nanoscale objects. In particular, the effects of size, charge and surface functionality will be investigated, and cases of both apparent direct cellular uptake of nanoparticles, and of direct nanoparticle transfer across intracellular membrane boundaries will be discussed.

Evidence of direct membrane penetration by gold nanoparticles in life cells and membrane models

247th National Meeting (2014)

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