Abstract
Nanoparticles of various shapes, sizes, and materials carrying different surface modifications have numerous technological and biomedical applications. Yet, the mechanisms by which nanoparticles interact with biological structures as well as their biological impact and hazards remain poorly investigated. Due to their large surface to volume ratio, nanoparticles usually exhibit properties that differ from those of bulk materials. Particularly, the surface chemistry of the nanoparticles is crucial for their durability and solubility in biological media as well as for their biocompatibility and biodistribution. Polystyrene does not degrade in the cellular environment and exhibits no short-term cytotoxicity. Because polystyrene nanoparticles can be easily synthesized in a wide range of sizes with distinct surface functionalizations, they are perfectly suited as model particles to study the effects of the particle surface characteristics on various biological parameters. Therefore, we have exploited polystyrene nanoparticles as a convenient platform to study bio–nano interactions. This review summarizes studies on positively and negatively charged polystyrene nanoparticles and compares them with clinically used superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles.
Highlights
Used polystyrene is being molded or expanded to foams
This study revealed another interesting aspect concerning the activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin, a key kinase controlling cell growth and proliferation and implicated in many human diseases including cancer and
Because polystyrene does not degrade in the cellular environment and shows no toxicity to cells, not even in long-term studies, the influence of the material of the nanoparticles could be largely neglected in our experiments
Summary
Address: 1Institute of Pharmacology of Natural Products & Clinical Pharmacology, Ulm University, Helmholtzstr. 20, D-89081 Ulm, Germany, 2Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, D-55128 Mainz, Germany, 3Institute of Applied Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Wolfgang Gaede-Str. 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany, and 4Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Str. Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States This article is part of the Thematic Series "Biological responses to NPs". Keywords: amino groups; apoptosis; carboxyl groups; cell proliferation; leukemia cell lines; macrophages; mTOR; polystyrene nanoparticles
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