Nanostraw membrane stamping for direct delivery of molecules into adhesive cells

Abstract

Delivering ions and molecules into living cells has become an important challenge in medical and biological fields. Conventional molecular delivery, however, has several issues such as physical and chemical damage to biological cells. Here, we present a method of directly delivering molecules into adhesive cells with an Au-based nanostraw membrane stamp that can physically inject a target molecule into the cytoplasm through a nanostraw duct. We successfully delivered calcein target molecules into adhesive cells with high efficiency (85%) and viability (90%). Furthermore, we modeled the molecular flow through Au nanostraws and then demonstrated the control of calcein flow by changing the concentration and geometry of Au nanostraws. Our Au membrane stamping provides a new way of accessing the cytoplasm to modulate cellular functions via injected molecules.