Tissue Engineering And Nanotheranostics

“9.61x6.69” b2815 Tissue Engineering and Nanotheranostics

Delivering Nanoparticles to Cancer Cells 209

2. Preliminary Considerations I: Cell, Centriole,

and Microtubule Geometry

To develop the proposed nanotherapy concept it may be helpful to

first review some aspects of cell geometry and behavior. Our focus is

restricted to human and animal (eukaryotic) cells. Figure 1 shows a

cross­section of a typical cell. It consists of a nucleus surrounded by

numerous organelles making up the cytoplasm (the cell interior

except for the nucleus). Of all these organelles, the centrioles are of

greatest interest for studying cell division (mitosis) and overexpressed

cell division — as in cancer. For our purposes, if we can prevent cel­

lular overexpression, we have accomplished our goal.

The centrioles are a pair of perpendicular cylinders lying adjacent

to the nucleus as seen in Fig. 1. Of all the organelles in the cytoplasm,

the centrioles are especially unique: they have precise geometry and

Fig. 1. A sketch of a cell interior.