Abstract
The ability of nanoparticles (NPs) to be promptly uptaken by the cells makes them both dangerous and useful to human health. It was recently postulated that some NPs might cross the plasma membrane also by a non-endocytotic pathway gaining access to the cytoplasm. To this aim, after having filled mature Xenopus oocytes with Calcein, whose fluorescence is strongly quenched by divalent metal ions, we have exposed them to different cobalt NPs quantifying quenching as evidence of the increase of the concentration of Co2+ released by the NPs that entered into the cytoplasm. We demonstrated that cobalt oxide NPs, but not cobalt nor cobalt oxide NPs that were surrounded by a protein corona, can indeed cross plasma membranes.
Highlights
The ability of nanoparticles (NPs) to be promptly uptaken by the cells makes them both dangerous and useful to human health
We have set up a new protocol that has proved capable to follow the NP-plasma membrane dynamics and we have demonstrated that cobalt oxide NPs, but not cobalt nor cobalt oxide NPs that were surrounded by a protein corona, can cross plasma membranes
We firstly needed to set up a system capable to consistently transport divalent metal ions across the plasma membrane from the extracellular milieu to the cytoplasm
Summary
The ability of nanoparticles (NPs) to be promptly uptaken by the cells makes them both dangerous and useful to human health. We have prepared transfected Xenopus oocytes by injecting them with the cRNA of the Divalent Metal ion Transporter 1 from rat (rDMT1). In non transfected (i.e., not injected with DMT1 cRNA) Xenopus laevis oocytes, the perfusion of ions in the bath solution did not elicit currents indicating the absence of electrogenic endogenous transporters in their plasma membrane.
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