Lecture note of
"Nanomaterials: Impact on Cells and Cell Organelles" (will come soon)
Chapter 8 from "Nanomaterials -Impacts on Cell Biology and Medicine" edited by David G. Capco and Yongsheng Chen (Springer)
Abstract
Colloidal nanoparticles designed for the interactions with cells and very small, nanoscale objects usually consisting of inorganic cores and organic shells that are dispersed in a buffer or biological medium. By tuning the material properties of nanoparticles a number of different biological applications of nanomaterials are enabled i.e. targeting, labelling, drug delivery, use as diagnostic tools or therapy. For all biological applications of nanoparticles, it is important to understand their interactions with the surrounding biological environment in order to predict their biological impact, in particular when designing the nanoparticles for diagnostic and therapeutic purpose. Due to the high surface-to-volume ratio, the surface of nanomaterials is very reactive. When exposed to biological fluids, the proteins and biomolecules present therein tend to associate with the nanoparticles’ surface. This phenomenon is defined as biomolecular corona formation. The biomolecular corona plays a key role in the interaction between nanoparticles and biological systems, impacting on how these particles interact with biological systems on a cellular and molecular level. This book chapter describes the nature of the interactions at the bio-nano interface, shows the design strategy of nanoparticles for nanomedicine, and defines the concepts of biomolecular corona and biological identity of nanoparticles. Moreover, it describes the interaction of functionalized nanomaterials with cell organelles and intra-cellular fate of nanoparticles and it shows therapeutic applications of gold nanoparticles as dose enhancer in radiotherapy.