Nano-engineered skin mesenchymal stem cells: potential vehicles for tumour-targeted quantum-dot delivery

• Liga Saulite,
• Dominyka Dapkute,
• Karlis Pleiko,
• Ineta Popena,
• Simona Steponkiene,
• Ricardas Rotomskis and
• Una Riekstina

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1218–1230, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.123

• each. Permeabilization and blocking was performed with 0.3% Triton X-100 (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) and 1% BSA in PBS for 45 min at room temperature. The cytoskeleton of cells was subsequently stained with methanolic Alexa Fluor488 Phalloidin (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA) diluted 1:100 in washing buffer

Silicon microgrooves for contact guidance of human aortic endothelial cells

• Sara Fernández-Castillejo,
• Pilar Formentín,
• Úrsula Catalán,
• Josep Pallarès,
• Lluís F. Marsal and
• Rosa Solà

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 675–681, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.72

• -shaped features that consist of repeated ridges and grooves pattern. Surfaces with these geometries have been used to demonstrate the influence on cell adhesion, alignment and organization [18][19][20][21]. Differences in cytoskeleton elongation have been demonstrated between cells elongated on these

• previously described [31]. Actin-stain 670 phalloidin (Tebu-Bio) was used to stain the actin filaments of cytoskeleton (200 nM, 30 min), while NucGreen Dead 488 (Life Technologies) was used to stain the nuclei (2 drops/mL, 10 min). The fluorescence images were acquired using a Nikon Eclipse TE2000-E inverted

Uptake of the proteins HTRA1 and HTRA2 by cells mediated by calcium phosphate nanoparticles

• Olga Rotan,
• Katharina N. Severin,
• Simon Pöpsel,
• Alexander Peetsch,
• Melisa Merdanovic,
• Michael Ehrmann and
• Matthias Epple

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 381–393, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.40

• in MG-63 cells with selective inhibitors (Table 1 and Figure 7). The uptake of the CaP/CMC/HTRA1-488 nanoparticles was partially inhibited by nocodazole (which inhibits the polymerization of microtubules in the cytoskeleton) and almost completely by nystatin (which inhibits caveolin-mediated

Low temperature co-fired ceramic packaging of CMOS capacitive sensor chip towards cell viability monitoring

• Niina Halonen,
• Joni Kilpijärvi,
• Maciej Sobocinski,
• Timir Datta-Chaudhuri,
• Antti Hassinen,
• Someshekar B. Prakash,
• Peter Möller,
• Pamela Abshire,
• Sakari Kellokumpu and
• Anita Lloyd Spetz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1871–1877, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.179

• color shows the microtubules of the cell cytoskeleton. In (c) and (f), the merged image of the nuclear staining and cytoskeleton are shown. The images were taken with a Zeiss LSM700 confocal microscope with 63× plan-apo immersion objective and appropriate filter sets. Average voltage change from the

Nano- and microstructured materials for in vitro studies of the physiology of vascular cells

• Alexandra M. Greiner,
• Adria Sales,
• Hao Chen,
• Sarah A. Biela,
• Dieter Kaufmann and
• Ralf Kemkemer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1620–1641, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.155

• and their biological responses to micro- and nanostructured surfaces are reviewed. Emphasis is given to studies of cell morphology and motility, cell proliferation, the cytoskeleton and cell-matrix adhesions, and signal transduction pathways of vascular cells. We finalize with a short outlook on

• (i.e., focal adhesions (FAs) that are complexes of proteins anchoring to the substrate and regulating cell adhesion strength, and actin cytoskeleton) have been observed to change and adapt to surface topography. Probably the influence of the topography on these internal structures provokes the

• topography and influencing on migration velocity have still to be elucidated. These factors could have a great potential for the design of, e.g., stents [241]. 2.3 The cytoskeleton and cell-matrix adhesions of vascular cells cultured on micro/nanostructured surfaces It is necessary to understand the signal

Tight junction between endothelial cells: the interaction between nanoparticles and blood vessels

• Yue Zhang and
• Wan-Xi Yang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 675–684, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.60

• cells and increased mRNA and protein expression of VEDF [71], which may account for the increasing permeability due to the low shear stress. ZO proteins ZO proteins exihibt the ability to link occludins or claudins to the actin cytoskeleton and are generally regarded as TJ scaffold due to several

Active multi-point microrheology of cytoskeletal networks

• Tobias Paust,
• Tobias Neckernuss,
• Lina Katinka Mertens,
• Ines Martin,
• Michael Beil,
• Paul Walther,
• Thomas Schimmel and
• Othmar Marti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 484–491, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.42

• ability of the network to transmit mechanical forces. We also take a closer look at the influence of noise on lock-in measurements and state some simple rules for improving the signal-to-noise ratio. Keywords: cytoskeleton; intermediate filaments; lock-in technique; microrheology; optical tweezers

Molecular machines operating on the nanoscale: from classical to quantum

• Igor Goychuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 328–350, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.31

Atomic force microscopy as analytical tool to study physico-mechanical properties of intestinal cells

• Christa Schimpel,
• Oliver Werzer,
• Eleonore Fröhlich,
• Gerd Leitinger,
• Markus Absenger-Novak,
• Birgit Teubl,
• Andreas Zimmer and
• Eva Roblegg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1457–1466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.151

• . However, to get a fundamental understanding of how cellular structures contribute to physiological processes, precise knowledge about surface morphologies, cytoskeleton organizations and biomechanical properties is necessary. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used here as a powerful tool to study surface

• cytoskeleton/microvilli arrangements and F-actin organization. Caco-2 cells displayed densely packed F-actin bundles covering the entire cell surface, indicating the formation of a well-differentiated brush border. In contrast, in M cells actins were arranged as short and/or truncated thin villi, only

• surface morphologies, mechanical properties and cytoskeleton organizations, enterocytes (Caco-2 cells) and M cells were studied in an in vitro co-culture model [28]. For this, enterocytes were cultured with Raji B cells to trigger M cell formation. AFM was used as a tool to study surface topography

Hollow plasmonic antennas for broadband SERS spectroscopy

• Gabriele C. Messina,
• Mario Malerba,
• Pierfrancesco Zilio,
• Ermanno Miele,
• Michele Dipalo,
• Lorenzo Ferrara and
• Francesco De Angelis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 492–498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.50

• been applied to the bio-system. Most commonly, only a few selected components of the cells are stained and observed simultaneously by fluorescence microscopy: for example, membrane lipids together with the nucleus and cytoskeleton. As an alternative to fluorescence methods, Raman spectroscopy is

Overview about the localization of nanoparticles in tissue and cellular context by different imaging techniques

• Anja Ostrowski,
• Daniel Nordmeyer,
• Alexander Boreham,
• Cornelia Holzhausen,
• Lars Mundhenk,
• Christina Graf,
• Martina C. Meinke,
• Annika Vogt,
• Sabrina Hadam,
• Jürgen Lademann,
• Eckart Rühl,
• Ulrike Alexiev and
• Achim D. Gruber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 263–280, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.25

• yet become a standard technique for histopathological examinations. It is primarily used for detailed analysis of subcellular structures, such as the cytoskeleton [115]. Importantly, this technique also allows for 3D reconstructions of information within the cell at a higher resolution level with all

Mechanical properties of MDCK II cells exposed to gold nanorods

• Anna Pietuch,
• Bastian Rouven Brückner,
• David Schneider,
• Marco Tarantola,
• Christina Rosman,
• Carsten Sönnichsen and
• Andreas Janshoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 223–231, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.21

• about cellular properties like the cytoskeleton or the plasma membrane [21]. Alternatively, mechanical properties of cells in response to nanoparticle exposure can be monitored time resolved by the quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (D-QCM) [14][22][23]. The QCM-method records

• either cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or biocompatible polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated gold nanoparticles in different concentrations. We also examined structural rearrangement of the cytoskeleton via fluorescence microscopy and by that tried to gain a deeper understanding of how gold

• the cells are no longer viable, which we largely attribute to the loss of cytoskeleton integrity and production of ROS species [10][13]. Dark-field microscopy is an excellent tool to visualize gold nanoparticles in cells due to their light scattering ability. Figure 2 shows a confluent MDCK II

Increasing throughput of AFM-based single cell adhesion measurements through multisubstrate surfaces

• Miao Yu,
• Nico Strohmeyer,
• Jinghe Wang,
• Daniel J. Müller and
• Jonne Helenius

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 157–166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.15

• . Rupture events are recorded when the CAM–ligand bond of a cytoskeleton-linked CAM fails. Tether events are recorded when a membrane tether is extruded from the cell membrane with the CAM at its tip (tethers). In the latter case, attachment of the CAM to the cytoskeleton is either too weak to resist the

Mammalian cell growth on gold nanoparticle-decorated substrates is influenced by the nanoparticle coating

• Christina Rosman,
• Sebastien Pierrat,
• Marco Tarantola,
• David Schneider,
• Eva Sunnick,
• Andreas Janshoff and
• Carsten Sönnichsen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2479–2488, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.257

• [20]. Taking a closer look at the cytoskeleton of cells after apical exposure to CTAB rods, we observed gaps between adjacent cells where the cortical ring previously existed and unusual aggregates of actin in the cytosol. Furthermore, β-tubulin was redistributed as monomers towards the cell periphery

• , and the cells covered a smaller area compared to untreated cells [18]. Apical addition of PEG particles did not induce visible changes in the cytoskeleton [18]. The basolateral nanoparticle application used in the present study showed interesting deviations from the two previous studies [18][20]. CTAB

High-frequency multimodal atomic force microscopy

• Adrian P. Nievergelt,
• Jonathan D. Adams,
• Pascal D. Odermatt and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2459–2467, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.255

• a clean drive and thus enables this technique in water. Figure 5b demonstrates gentle imaging of a sample of F-actin fibres deposited on a (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane-coated glass surface in liquid. F-actin is a fibre-forming protein that plays a role in the cytoskeleton. F-actin filaments are a

• a steel disc for imaging. F-actin was prepared according to the protocol of the manufacturer (BK003, Cytoskeleton, Inc., Denver, CO, USA). An amount of 1 μL F-actin was stabilized with 3 μL Alexa Fluor 488 Phalloidin (A12379, Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and diluted to a final volume of 40

Anticancer efficacy of a supramolecular complex of a 2-diethylaminoethyl–dextran–MMA graft copolymer and paclitaxel used as an artificial enzyme

• Yasuhiko Onishi,
• Yuki Eshita,
• Rui-Cheng Ji,
• Masayasu Onishi,
• Takashi Kobayashi,
• Masaaki Mizuno,
• Jun Yoshida and
• Naoji Kubota

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2293–2307, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.238

• a circle form to an ellipse form; however, one of the tumors in the PTX or saline group was still in a circle form. This tumor strain means that the DDMC/PTX complex inhibits cancer growth by promoting α,β-tubulin polymerization to induce strong stress to the cytoskeleton or an anti-angiogenic

Carbon-based smart nanomaterials in biomedicine and neuroengineering

• Antonina M. Monaco and
• Michele Giugliano

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1849–1863, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.196

• cultures; additionally, the electrical stimulation resulted in affecting the regulation of cytoskeleton protein related to cellular mobility, such as actin, resulting in morphological changes in cellular edges. Sahni et al. [139] compared the neurite outgrowth of rat primary cortical neurons cultured on

Different endocytotic uptake mechanisms for nanoparticles in epithelial cells and macrophages

• Dagmar A. Kuhn,
• Dimitri Vanhecke,
• Benjamin Michen,
• Fabian Blank,
• Peter Gehr,
• Alke Petri-Fink and
• Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1625–1636, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.174

• × PBS, then permeabilized for 15 minutes with 0.2% Triton X and then washed again with 1× PBS. The F-actin cytoskeleton was stained with rhodamine phalloidin (Invitrogen, Luzern, Switzerland) at a dilution of 1:50 in 1× PBS. Following this step, the cells were then washed and mounted in glycergel

• position of the XZ slice shown in the lower picture. The apical side of the cells corresponds to the bottom line of the images. Endocytotic uptake proteins are shown in green and the actin cytoskeleton in red. Scale bar: 8 µm. Investigation of cell morphology after inhibitor treatment. Healthy cells (green

Mimicking exposures to acute and lifetime concentrations of inhaled silver nanoparticles by two different in vitro approaches

• Fabian Herzog,
• Kateryna Loza,
• Sandor Balog,
• Martin J. D. Clift,
• Matthias Epple,
• Peter Gehr,
• Alke Petri-Fink and
• Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1357–1370, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.149

• and then treated with 0.1 M glycine in PBS for 10 min. Before staining, the cells were permeabilised with 0.2% Triton X-100 in PBS for 15 min at room temperature. The cytoskeleton (i.e., F-actin-filaments of all cells) was stained with rhodamine phalloidin 1:100 (R-415; Molecular Probes, Life

Model systems for studying cell adhesion and biomimetic actin networks

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johannes P. Frohnmayer and
• Joachim P. Spatz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1193–1202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.131

• adhesion receptors [4]. All connective tissues are supported by an extracellular protein structure, the extracellular matrix (ECM). For the first time, in 1986 an integrin was reported to link the intracellular cytoskeleton with the ECM. The name “integrins” was given to these receptors to denote their

• integral membrane nature and importance for the integrity of the cytoskeleton–ECM linkage [5]. Integrins are heterodimeric transmembrane glycoproteins consisting of noncovalently associated α and β subunits. In humans 24 different αβ permutations of such heterodimers exist, each of which can bind to a wide

• [18]. These results showed that integrin signalling enables cells to amplify small environmental differences in adhesive cues to large differences in adhesion strength. As the cortical cytoskeleton of all cells is formed by the assembly of actin microfilaments, their linkage to adhesion-mediating

The softening of human bladder cancer cells happens at an early stage of the malignancy process

• Jorge R. Ramos,
• Joanna Pabijan,
• Ricardo Garcia and
• Malgorzata Lekka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 447–457, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.52

• Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Kraków, Poland 10.3762/bjnano.5.52 Abstract Various studies have demonstrated that alterations in the deformability of cancerous cells are strongly linked to the actin cytoskeleton. By using atomic force

• -malignant cells. This underlines the diagnostic character of stiffness that can be used as a biomarker of bladder cancer. Similar stiffness levels, observed for cancerous cells, cannot be fully explained by the organization of the actin cytoskeleton since it is different in all malignant cells. Our results

• filaments; atomic force microscopy (AFM); bladder cells; cytoskeleton; elastic properties of cells; malignancy degree of cancer cells; Introduction During oncogenic progression, many cancer-related alterations change both the internal structures of cells and also their surroundings, i.e., the extracellular

Apertureless scanning near-field optical microscopy of sparsely labeled tobacco mosaic viruses and the intermediate filament desmin

• Alexander Harder,
• Mareike Dieding,
• Volker Walhorn,
• Sven Degenhard,
• Andreas Brodehl,
• Christina Wege,
• Hendrik Milting and
• Dario Anselmetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 510–516, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.60

• desmin intermediate filament protein assembles to extensive fibrous networks, which are an integral part of the cytoskeleton of heart muscle cells. Several mutations of the desmin gene are associated with severe muscle diseases like arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) [18][19][20][21