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Mimicking Vesicle Fusion To Make Gold Nanoparticles Easily Penetrate Cells
rtoz (2530056) writes A special class of tiny gold particles can easily slip through cell membranes, making them good candidates to deliver drugs directly to target cells. A new study from MIT materials scientists reveals that these nanoparticles enter cells by taking advantage of a route normally used in vesicle-vesicle fusion, a crucial process that allows signal transmission between neurons. MIT engineers created simulations of how a gold nanoparticle coated with special molecules can penetrate a membrane.
Paper (abstract; full text paywalled).
As folks who've experimented with the anti-biotic and anti-viral effects of silver can attest, its important that we do indeed start with nano-particles. Bigger particles tend to have a plating effect and tattoo under the skin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
If it acquires resources on instantiation like a duck, then its a shared_ptr<Duck>
Additional links: A big discussion has taken place on PubPeer following a pre-publication arXiv release of a paper (full disclosure: I'm a co-author on the second version of this paper). The paper is well worth a read, and should be coming out soon in PLoS One.
ArXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/1312.6812
Pubpeer: https://pubpeer.com/publicatio...
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.