Abstract
Intracellular delivery of exogenous materials is an essential technique required for many fundamental biological researches and medical treatments. As our understanding of cell structure and function has been improved and diverse therapeutic agents with a subcellular site of action have been continuously developed, there is a demand to enhance the performance of delivering devices. Ideal intracellular delivery devices should convey various kinds of exogenous materials without deteriorating cell viability regardless of cell type and, furthermore, precisely control the location and the timing of delivery as well as the amount of delivered materials for advanced researches.
In this chapter the development of a new intracellular delivery device, a nanoinjector made of a Au (gold) nanowire (a Au nanoinjector) is described in which delivery is triggered by external application of an electric pulse. As a model study, a gene was delivered directly into the nucleus of a neuroblastoma cell, and successful delivery without cell damage was confirmed by the expression of the delivered gene. The insertion of a Au nanoinjector directly into a cell can be generally applied to any kind of cell, and a high degree of surface modification of Au allows attachment of diverse materials such as proteins, small molecules, or nanoparticles as well as genes on Au nanoinjectors. This expands their applicability, and it is expected that they will provide important information on the effects of delivered exogenous materials and consequently contribute to the development of related therapeutic or clinical technologies.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Xie C, Lin Z, Hanson L et al (2012) Intracellular recording of action potentials by nanopillar electroporation. Nat Nanotechnol 7:185–190
Duan X, Gao R, Xie P et al (2012) Intracellular recordings of action potentials by an extracellular nanoscale field-effect transistor. Nat Nanotechnol 7:174–179
Shalek A, Robinson JT, Karp ES et al (2010) Vertical silicon nanowires as a universal platform for delivering biomolecules into living cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107:1870–1875
Chen X, Kis A, Zettl A et al (2007) A cell nanoinjector based on carbon nanotubes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104:8218–8222
Yum K, Na S, Xiang Y et al (2009) Mechanochemical delivery and dynamic tracking of fluorescent quantum dots in the cytoplasm and nucleus of living cells. Nano Lett 9:2193–2198
Yum K, Wang N, Yu M-F (2010) Electrochemically controlled deconjugation and delivery of single quantum dots into the nucleus of living cells. Small 6:2109–2113
Han S-W, Nakamura C, Kotobuki N et al (2008) High-efficiency DNA injection into a single human mesenchymal stem cell using a nanoneedle and atomic force microscopy. Nanomedicine 4:215–225
Karra D, Dahm R (2010) Transfection techniques for neuronal cells. J Neurosci 30:6171–6177
Gresch O, Altrogge L (2012) Transfection of difficult-to-transfect primary mammalian cells. Methods Mol Biol 801:65–74
Yoo SM, Kang M, Kang T et al (2013) Electrotriggered, spatioselective, quantitative gene delivery into a single cell nucleus by Au nanowire nanoinjector. Nano Lett 13:2431–2435
Singhal R, Orynbayeva Z, Sundaram RVK et al (2011) Multifunctional carbon-nanotube cellular endoscopes. Nat Nanotechnol 6:57–64
Zheng XT, Chen P, Li CM (2012) Anticancer efficacy and subcellular site of action investigated by real-time monitoring of cellular responses to localized drug delivery in single cells. Small 8:2670–2674
Abouzeid AH, Torchilin VP (2013) The role of cell cycle in the efficiency and activity of cancer nanomedicines. Expert Opin Drug Deliv 10:775–786
Love JC, Estroff LA, Kriebel JK et al (2005) Self-assembled monolayers of thiolates on metals as a form of nanotechnology. Chem Rev 105:1103–1169
Creager SE, Hockett LA, Rowe GK (1992) Consequences of microscopic surface roughness for molecular self-assembly. Langmuir 8:854–861
Yoo Y, Seo K, Han S et al (2010) Steering epitaxial alignment of Au, Pd, and AuPd nanowire arrays by atom flux change. Nano Lett 10:432–438
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Kang, M., Kim, B. (2015). Au Nanoinjectors for Electrotriggered Gene Delivery into the Cell Nucleus. In: Hancock, R. (eds) The Nucleus. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1228. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1680-1_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1680-1_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1679-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1680-1
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols