Imaging cellular uptake and intracellular distribution of TiO2 nanoparticles

Abstract

Understanding the internalization of nanoparticles in cells is of great interest for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. We investigated the cellular uptake and distribution of TiO₂ nanoparticles by high lateral resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and transmission X-ray microscopy. TEM results showed that TiO₂ nanoparticle internalization mostly occurred via endocytosis and the nanoparticles were distributed in the cytoplasm. 3D reconstructed tomography also confirmed that TiO₂ nanoparticle aggregates were mainly distributed over the cell membrane surface.