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Studies of the cellular uptake of hydrogel nanospheres and microspheres by phagocytes, vascular endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells
Author(s) -
Nguyen Kytai Truong,
Shukla Kajal P.,
Moctezuma Miriam,
Braden Arthur R. C.,
Zhou Jun,
Hu Zhibing,
Tang Liping
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.31734
Subject(s) - biocompatibility , materials science , biophysics , vascular smooth muscle , drug delivery , fluorescence microscope , restenosis , intracellular , microsphere , confocal microscopy , biomedical engineering , in vitro , nanotechnology , confocal , fluorescence , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , chemistry , smooth muscle , biochemistry , biology , chemical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , stent , metallurgy , geometry , mathematics , engineering
Intensive research efforts have been placed on the development of nanospheres for targeted drug delivery for treating a variety of diseases, including coronary restenosis, cancer, and inflammatory reactions. Although most of these drug‐bearing spheres are delivered via intravenous administration, little is known about the effect of sphere physical characteristics on the responses of vascular and blood cells. To find the answer, this work was aimed to investigate the cellular uptake of nanosized (100 nm) and microsized hydrogel spheres (1 μm) made of poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide) by vascular cells and phagocytes under various flow conditions in vitro . We found that the cellular uptake of nanospheres depended on incubation times and sphere concentrations as well as on the introduced shear stress levels of the medium. Measurements of the intracellular‐released fluorescence and confocal fluorescence microscopy revealed that nanospheres were internalized by endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells more than microspheres, whereas microspheres were rapidly taken up by phagocytes, especially at high concentration. Our results strongly suggest that hydrogel nanospheres are more effective as an intravascular delivery system compared to microspheres in the terms of vascular cellular uptake and biocompatibility. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2009