1. Institute of Organic Chemistry III – Macromolecular Chemistry and Organic Materials, University of Ulm, Albert‐Einstein‐Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany;2. Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
Abstract:
The influence of surface roughness and charge on the cellular uptake of nanoparticles in HeLa cells is investigated with fluorescent, oppositely charged, rough, and smooth nanoparticles. Flow cytometry, cLSM, and TEM reveal that rough nanoparticles are internalized by the cells more slowly and by an unidentified uptake route as no predominant endocytosis route is blocked by a variety of inhibitory drugs, while the uptake of smooth nanoparticles is strongly dependent on dynamin, F‐actin, and lipid‐raft. Negatively charged nanoparticles are taken up to a higher extent than positively charged ones, independent of the surface roughness.
