Table 1.

Physicochemical characteristics and biological properties of the nanoparticles used in this study

NPs	Material	Size (nm)	Surface functional group	Toxicity	Cholesterol-dep uptake	Protein corona effect	Cell compartmentalization
MPS	Mesoporous silica	10	None	No	Yes	No	Lysosome → cytosol
MPS	Mesoporous silica	50	None	No	Yes	No	Lysosome
MPS	Mesoporous silica	50	−NH2	No	Yes	ND	Lysosome
MPS	Mesoporous silica	50	−COOH	No	Yes	ND	Lysosome
PS	Polystyrene	1000	−NH2	Yes	ND	ND	Lysosome
PS	Polystyrene	50	−NH2	Yes	ND	ND	Lysosome
PS	Polystyrene	30	−COOH	No	No	Yes	Recycling vesicles