TY  - EJOU
AU  - Liu, Xinyue  
AU  - Liu, Yunqiao  
AU  - Gong, Xiaobo  
AU  - Huang, Huaxiong  

TI  - A Numerical Study of Passive Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis of Nanoparticles: The Effect of Mechanical Properties
T2  - Computer Modeling in Engineering \& Sciences

PY  - 2018
VL  - 116
IS  - 2
SN  - 1526-1506

AB  - In this work, a three-dimensional axisymmetric model with nanoparticle, receptor-ligand bonds and cell membrane as a system was used to study the quasi-static receptor-mediated endocytosis process of spherical nanoparticles in drug delivery. The minimization of the system energy function was carried out numerically, and the deformations of nanoparticle, receptor-ligand bonds and cell membrane were predicted. Results show that passive endocytosis may fail due to the rupture of receptor-ligand bonds during the wrapping process, and the size and rigidity of nanoparticles affect the total deformation energy and the terminal wrapping stage. Our results suggest that, in addition to the energy requirement, the success of passive endocytosis also depends on the maximum strength of the receptor-ligand bonds.
KW  - Receptor-mediated endocytosis
KW  -  nanoparticle uptake
KW  -  optimization method
KW  -  receptor-ligand bonds
KW  -  drug delivery

DO  - 10.31614/cmes.2018.04989