Abstract
Nanoparticulate systems are widely used for site-specific drug and gene delivery as well as for medical imaging. The mode of nanoparticle-cell interaction may have a significant effect on the pathway of nanoparticle internalization and subsequent intracellular trafficking. Total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy allows for real-time monitoring of nanoparticle-membrane interaction events, which can provide vital information in relation to design and surface engineering of therapeutic nanoparticles for cell-specific targeting. In contrast to other microscopy techniques, the bleaching effect by lasers in TIRF microscopy is considerably less when using fluorescent nanoparticles and it reduces photo-induced cytotoxicity during visualization of live-cell events since it only illuminates the specific area near or at the plasma membrane.
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Acknowledgements
Financial support from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation (Det frie forskningsråd for teknologi og production), reference 274-08-0534, and Leica Microsystems (Ballerup, Denmark) are greatly acknowledged.
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Parhamifar, L., Moghimi, S.M. (2012). Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) Microscopy for Real-Time Imaging of Nanoparticle-Cell Plasma Membrane Interaction. In: Soloviev, M. (eds) Nanoparticles in Biology and Medicine. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 906. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-953-2_38
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-953-2_38
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