The shape effect of mesoporous silica nanoparticles on biodistribution, clearance, and biocompatibility in Vivo
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have gained increasing attention in biomedical field due to their unique characteristics, including high Brunauer, Emmet and Teller (BET) surface area, large pore volume and uniform porosity, making them excellent candidates for the development of a drug delivery system. Ensuring the safety of nanoparticles in vivo is of great significant in their clinical application.
The research group headed by Dr. TANG Fangqiong from the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences have been devoting themselves to the research of novel nanobiomaterial as well as the safety of nanoparticles. After their previous achievements in that the interaction of nanoparticles with cells could be influenced by particle shape, the research group has made achieved another step forward.
In their study, the research group controlled the fabrication of fluorescent MSNs by varying the concentration of reaction reagents especially to design a series of shapes. Two different shaped fluorescent MSNs were specially designed, and the effects of particle shape on biodistribution, clearance and biocompatibility in vivo were investigated.
Organ distributions show that intravenously administrated MSNs are mainly present in the liver, spleen and lung and there are obvious particle shape effects on in vivo behaviors. Short-rod MSNs are easily trapped in the liver, while long-rod MSNs distribute in the spleen. MSNs with both aspect ratios have a higher content in the lung after PEG modification.
It is also found MSNs are mainly excreted by urine and feces, and the clearance rate of MSNs is primarily dependent on the particle shape, where short-rod MSNs have a more rapid clearance rate than long-rod MSNs in both excretion routes. Hematology, serum biochemistry, and histopathology results indicate that MSNs would not cause significant toxicity in vivo, but there is potential induction of biliary excretion and glomerular filtration dysfunction. These findings may provide useful information for the design of nanoscale delivery systems and the environmental fate of nanoparticles. The related paper has been published in ACS Nano.
The research is the National High-tech R&D Program of China (863 Program) and has received grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
