Intracellular Delivery of Micron-Sized Magnetic Particles through a Virus Infection Pathway

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2022-10, Vol.14 (41), p.46850-46856
• Main Authors: Feng, Xiayi, Gao, Ding, Jing, Yipeng, Qian, Junchao, Cui, Zongqiang, Zhou, Juan, Zhang, Xian-En, Men, Dong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Functional Nanostructured Materials (including low-D carbon)
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c11991

Micron-sized magnetic particles (M-MPs) have low toxicity, strong magnetic signals, and long-term retention capability, which are significant advantages for their application in biomedical imaging. Unfortunately, M-MPs are only internalized by few cell types, such as macrophages and phagocytes, and because of this lack of active intracellular delivery, their applications are restricted. The emergence of self-assembled virus-like particles (VLPs) offers a viable approach to drive M-MPs into cells, although the specific mechanism has not been revealed. In this study, we investigated in detail the intracellular pathway of M-MPs mediated by VLPs using a fluorescence co-localization method. The results indicated that the intracellular movement of M-MPs was consistent with the virus infection pathway, specifically caveolae-dependent endocytosis, transportation through microtubules, and accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum. This study provides experimental support for the active transport of M-MPs into other cell types, thereby further extending their applications.