Additional file 1: of Size, Stability, and Porosity of Mesoporous Nanoparticles Characterized with Light Scattering

Contains following supplementary materials: fabrication of porous silicon nanoparticles, fabrication of silica nanoparticles, summary of silica nanoparticles' preparation conditions, summary of log-normal fitting results, absorbance of used nanoparticles, nitrogen sorption isotherms, additional TEM graphs from silica nanoparticles, fractal dimension analysis for SLS results and Kratky plots, all the studied correlations and measured zeta potential distributions. (DOCX 11779 kb

Particle designs implemented for this study.

<p>Particle designs implemented for this study.</p

Cytotoxicity of various MSNs applied at concentrations of 50, 20 and 10 μg/ml in serum-free medium.

<p>Negative control–untreated cells. Data shown as M±2xSEM. <b>a)</b> MSN toxicity in MDCK II cells. <b>b)</b> MSN toxicity in RBE4 cells.</p

Confocal images of RBE4 and MDCK II cells incubated for 24 hours with MSNs applied at a concentration of 20 μg/ml in serum-free medium.

<p>Nuclei stained with Hoechst 33258 (blue). MSNs labeled with FITC (green). F-actin stained with phalloidin (red) <b>a)</b> PEG-PEI-coated spherical MSNs in RBE4. <b>b)</b> PEG-PEI-coated rod-shaped MSNs in RBE4. <b>c)</b> Uncoated spherical MSNs in RBE4. <b>d)</b> Uncoated rod-shaped MSNs in RBE4. e) PEG-PEI-coated spherical MSNs in MDCK II. f) PEG-PEI-coated rod-shaped MSNs in MDCK II. g) Uncoated spherical MSNs in MDCK II. h) Uncoated rod-shaped MSNs in MDCK II.</p

SPR responses reflecting uptake of MSNs by MDCK II cells.

<p>Cells were stimulated with 20 μg/ml of a) spherical and b) rod-shaped MSNs in serum-free medium at t = 20°C. Monitoring was performed for 175–240 minutes for spherical MSNs and 200–300 minutes for rod-shaped MSNs after injection of MSNs into a steady state SPR cuvette.</p

Flow cytometry histograms for determining the uptake of different MSNs that were incubated with the MDCK II and RBE4 cells at a concentration of 20 μg/ml for 24 hours in serum-free medium.

<p>Negative control–cells not incubated with the MSNs. a) Representative histograms showing uptake of MSNs in MDCK II cells. b) Representative histograms showing uptake in RBE4 cells.</p

Electron microscopy images.

<p>a) transmission electron microscopy images of uncoated spherical MSNs b) scanning electron microscopy images of uncoated spherical MSNs c) transmission electron microscopy images of uncoated rod-shaped MSNs d) scanning electron microscopy images of uncoated rod-shaped MSNs.</p

Transport of different MSNs across MDCK II monolayers in serum-free medium.

<p>MSNs were applied at a concentration of 50 μg/ml. Data represent the mean apparent permeability (Papp) of MSN (n = 3) at the time points 12, 24 and 36 hours, corrected for the loss of MSNs in the upper compartment, and are shown as M±2xSEM.Asterisks denote significant differences between Papp at 24 or 36 hours and Papp at 12 hours (p<0.05).</p

Brain distribution of rod-shaped MSNs after injection into the tail vein of a mouse.

<p><b>a)</b> Rod-shaped MSNs imaged at different time points up to 156 minutes. <b>b)</b> Images taken at the end of the experiment (48 hours), showing brain vessels visualized with FITC-dextran, as well as the remaining red-shaped MSNs.</p

Bright field microscopy image of MDCK II cells grown on permeable supports and incubated with rod-shaped MSNs coated with a PEG-PEI copolymer (incubation time—36 hours).

<p>Bright field microscopy image of MDCK II cells grown on permeable supports and incubated with rod-shaped MSNs coated with a PEG-PEI copolymer (incubation time—36 hours).</p