Article abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 2, 249 - 255 (2007)
Published online: 25 March 2007 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.70
Subject Categories: Nanobiotechnology | Nanomedicine | Nanoparticles
Shape effects of filaments versus spherical particles in flow and drug delivery
Yan Geng1,3, Paul Dalhaimer1,3, Shenshen Cai1, Richard Tsai1, Manorama Tewari1, Tamara Minko2 & Dennis E. Discher1
Abstract
Interaction of spherical particles with cells and within animals has been studied extensively, but the effects of shape have received little attention. Here we use highly stable, polymer micelle assemblies known as filomicelles to compare the transport and trafficking of flexible filaments with spheres of similar chemistry. In rodents, filomicelles persisted in the circulation up to one week after intravenous injection. This is about ten times longer than their spherical counterparts and is more persistent than any known synthetic nanoparticle. Under fluid flow conditions, spheres and short filomicelles are taken up by cells more readily than longer filaments because the latter are extended by the flow. Preliminary results further demonstrate that filomicelles can effectively deliver the anticancer drug paclitaxel and shrink human-derived tumours in mice. Although these findings show that long-circulating vehicles need not be nanospheres, they also lend insight into possible shape effects of natural filamentous viruses.
- NanoBioPolymers and Molecular & Cell Biophysics Lab, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
- Pharmaceutics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Dennis E. Discher1 e-mail: discher@seas.upenn.edu
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Nanomedicine Nanocarriers shape up for long lifeNature Nanotechnology News and Views (01 Apr 2007)
Self-assembly Towards precision micellesNature News and Views (29 Jul 2004)
See all 4 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Self-assembly and properties of diblock copolymers by coarse-grain molecular dynamicsNature Materials Article (01 Sep 2004)
Supplementary InformationNature Materials Article (01 Oct 2009)
See all 15 matches for Research
