Functionalization of Mesoporous Silicon Nanoparticles for Targeting and Bioimaging Purposes

Figure 6

Microscopic autoradiography (a, b, c) and TEM images (d, e, f) from a liver of a mouse 10 minutes after the injection with 10 kDa O-PEGylated UnTHCPSi-NPs. The nanoparticles, pointed out with black arrows, are located mainly in the lumen of liver blood vessels (a, b) and they are able to emanate into the sinusoids as well (c). However, TEM images indicate that, some of the NPs are phagocyted by macrophages (upward arrows) but are also found on the surface of the red blood cells (downward arrows) (d). Some NPs are detected in the microvilli of the liver cells (e) and in autophagocytic vacuoles inside the liver cells (upward arrows) as well as in the cytoplasm (downward arrows) (f).