Targeted optical injection of gold nanoparticles into single mammalian cells

Abstract

We present an all optical technique for the targeted delivery of single 100 nm diameter gold nanoparticles into a specified region of the interior of an individual mammalian cell through a combination of optical tweezing and optical injection. The internalisation of the nanoparticle is verified by confocal laser scanning microscopy and confocal laser scanning reflectance microscopy. This represents the first time that nano sized particles have been tweezed and optically injected into mammalian cells using only light, and provides a novel methodology for internalising nanosphere based biosensors within specific intracellular regions of a mammalian cell.

Pep-1 Peptide-Modified Liposomal Carriers for Intracellular Delivery of Gold Nanoparticles

“…Several strategies have been reported for the intracellular delivery of metallic nanoparticles, including microinjection, 33) cationic transfection reagents, 34) CPPs introduction, 35,36) and electroporation. 37) Although these techniques facilitate better transport of Au NPs to the cells, they present certain problems such as a limited throughput process in microinjection requiring simultaneous manipulation of individual cells and invasive damage to cellular membranes in electroporation.…”

Single cell optical transfection

“…Cell viabilities greater than or equal to 90 per cent are often reported in the literature (Tirlapur & Konig 2002;Kohli et al 2005a;Peng et al 2007;Baumgart et al 2008;Lei et al 2008;Uchugonova et al 2008b Baumgart et al 2008;Uchugonova et al 2008b), and mRNA (Barrett et al 2006;Sul et al 2009). Recently, our own laboratory has even shown that a single 100 nm gold particle can be optically tweezed and subsequently injected into a cell (McDougall et al 2009; as discussed in more detail later). A recent electrophysiology-based study, combined with quantitative fluorescence microscopy, provides some interesting insights into the response of the cell to fs irradiation (Baumgart et al 2008).…”

Light forces the pace: optical manipulation for biophotonics

“…Once tweezed in close proximity, contents can be either be released or injected into the cell. 130 In one chemical release experiment, optical tweezed particles containing carbachol ͑a ligand for the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor͒ were lysed in close proximity of a cell expressing the receptor, using a pulsed UV laser ͑Fig. 11͒.…”