Glucose-coated gold nanoparticles transfer across human brain endothelium and enter astrocytes in vitro.

ABSTRACT: The blood-brain barrier prevents the entry of many therapeutic agents into the brain. Various nanocarriers have been developed to help agents to cross this barrier, but they all have limitations, with regard to tissue-selectivity and their ability to cross the endothelium. This study investigated the potential for 4 nm coated gold nanoparticles to act as selective carriers across human brain endothelium and subsequently to enter astrocytes. The transfer rate of glucose-coated gold nanoparticles across primary human brain endothelium was at least three times faster than across non-brain endothelia. Movement of these nanoparticles occurred across the apical and basal plasma membranes via the cytosol with relatively little vesicular or paracellular migration; antibiotics that interfere with v

SUBMITTER: Gromnicova R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3855187 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature