<p>Improving Cell Penetration of Gold Nanorods by Using an Amphipathic Arginine Rich Peptide</p>

Abstract

Introduction: Gold nanorods are highly reactive, have a large surface-to-volume ratio, and can be functionalized with biomolecules. Gold nanorods can absorb infrared electromagnetic radiation, which is subsequently dispersed as local heat. Gold nanoparticles can be used as powerful tools for the diagnosis and therapy of different diseases. To improve the biological barrier permeation of nanoparticles with low cytotoxicity, in this study, we conjugated gold nanorods with cell-penetrating peptides (oligoarginines) and with the amphipathic peptide CLPFFD. Methods: We studied the interaction of the functionalized gold nanorods with biological membrane models (liposomes) by dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy and the Langmuir balance. Furthermore, we evaluated the effects on cell viability and permeability with an MTS assay and TEM. Results and Discussion: The interaction study by DLS, the Langmuir balance and cryo-TEM support that GNR-Arg 7 CLPFFD enhances the interactions between GNRs and biological membranes. In addition, cells treated with GNR-Arg 7 CLPFFD internalized 80% more nanoparticles than cells treated with GNR alone and did not induce cell damage. Conclusion: Our results indicate that incorporation of an amphipathic sequence into oligoarginines for the functionalization of gold nanorods enhances biological membrane nanoparticle interactions and nanoparticle cell permeability with respect to nanorods functionalized with oligoarginine. Overall, functionalized gold nanorods with amphipathic arginine rich peptides might be candidates for improving drug delivery by facilitating biological barrier permeation.

Studies of cell-penetrating peptides by biophysical methods

“…Internalization was observed by fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. Golden, silver, and other metallic nanoparticles are also known and they were decorated by CPPs to enhance adsorbed drug delivery (Riveros et al, 2020;Zucker and Boyes, 2020). An overview of nanoparticles behavior in in vivo systems is given in Lane et al (2015); Chiarpotti et al (2021);and Gessner and Neundorf (2020).…”

Integration of Dual Targeting and Dual Therapeutic Modules Endows Self-Assembled Nanoparticles with Anti-Tumor Growth and Metastasis Functions

“…Tumor progression is a unique phase in tumor development feature with cell invasive growth and metastasis. 37 Since inhibition of invasive growth is of great importance in maintaining therapy efficacy, the NPs defense against invasion growth of tumor cells was assessed by using transwell assay. As elicited in Figure 2J and K , HeLa cells were used, and the results were much consistent with cell viability analysis.…”

“…In addition, because GO-203 peptide is rich in arginine, this structure may be able to enhance the penetration effect of NPs, thus enhancing the therapeutic effect. 37 , 39 , 40 On the other hand, Bio-TEM images offered direct information for the understanding of nanofiber-involved cellular morphology change. Numerous NFs were generated in the extracellular interval and intracellular space ( Figure 4A and B ).…”

Delivery of siRNA Using Functionalized Gold Nanorods Enhances Anti-Osteosarcoma Efficacy

“…A cell-penetrating membrane peptide (CPP) is a small molecule polypeptide which can carry various cargoes across the cellular membranes in an intact, such as liposomes, full-length proteins, nucleic acids, and nanoparticles ( Taylor and Zahid 2020 ). Studies have confirmed that CPP-functionalized gold nanorods could improve the cell penetration, exert excellent efficacy ( Riveros et al, 2020 ), and improve the targeting of tumor cells ( Tan et al, 2017 ). The characteristic features of acidosis in tumor microenvironments are taken as advantages to synthesize pH-responsive CPP and realize the targeting of therapeutic drugs to tumor tissue, and it is undoubtedly a strategy for the treatment of tumors.…”