Figure 4: Intracellular cargo delivery with nanophores.
From: Environment-responsive nanophores for therapy and treatment monitoring via molecular MRI quenching
(a) Composite image of bright field and fluorescence images of LNCaP cells treated for 48 h with Doxorubicin-loaded Ferumoxytol. Doxorubicin fluorescence is shown in red (scale bar, 50 μm). (b) Cells were treated with DiR-loaded Ferumoxytol, and after washing and trypsinization, the harvested cell pellets were imaged with an Odyssey reader at 800 nm to quantify the uptake of the nanophores. Control cells were treated with unloaded nanoparticles. Inhibition of endocytosis was performed at 4 °C and with the inhibitors sodium azide and 2-deoxyglucose (mean±s.e.m., n=3). The cell pellets were subjected to iron digestion, and revealed that upon release of the cargo the r2 (c) and r1 (d) relaxivities of DiR-carrying Ferumoxytol were higher than those of the corresponding fully loaded formulation (mean±s.e.m., n=3).
