Cell-nanoparticle stickiness and dose delivery in a multi-model in silico platform: DosiGUI.

backgroundIt is well-known that nanoparticles sediment, diffuse and aggregate when dispersed in a fluid. Once they approach a cell monolayer, depending on the affinity or "stickiness" between cells and nanoparticles, they may adsorb instantaneously, settle slowly - in a time- and concentration-dependent manner - or even encounter steric hindrance and rebound. Therefore, the dose perceived by cells in culture may not necessarily be that initially administered. Methods for quantifying delivered dose are difficult to implement, as they require precise characterization of nanoparticles and exposure scenarios, as well as complex mathematical operations to handle the equations governing the system dynamics. Here we present a pipeline and a graphical user interface, DosiGUI, for application to the accurate nano-dosimetry of engineered nanoparticles on cell monolayers, which also includes methods for determining the parameters characterising nanoparticle-cell stickiness.

resultsWe evaluated the stickiness for 3 industrial nanoparticles (TiO

conclusionAccurate nanoparticle dose estimation in vitro is crucial for in vivo extrapolation, allowing for their safe use in medical and other applications. This study provides a computational platform - DosiGUI - for more reliable dose-response characterization. It also highlights the importance of cell-nanoparticle stickiness for better risk assessment of engineered nanomaterials.