Arginine-Terminated, Chemically Designed Nanoparticle for Direct Cell Translocation

Direct cell translocation of nanomaterials is preferred over the endocytotic uptake for various subcellular targeting applications that can bypass the lysosomal trafficking/degradation. Although arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides are routinely used for cell transfection of wider range materials from molecule to nanoparticle, the direct cell translocation of nanoparticle is not a routine approach, particularly because of the predominate endocytotic uptake. Here we report arginine-terminated, designed nanoparticle of 15-30 nm hydrodynamic size that enters into cell via direct translocation. We found that direct cell translocation of nanoparticle is very efficient without localization at any specific subcellular compartment for 12-24 h. This study shows that nanomaterial can be chemically designed for direct cell translocation and for cytosolic delivery without any biomembrane-coated endosome that can be employed for subcellular targeting applications.