Figure 3.

(A) Gold nanoflowers and large gold nanospheres (red) associate with nuclei of different breast cells, i.e. MCF7 and non-tumorigenic human mammary epithelial cells (HuMEC). Note that gold nanoflowers can be detected in the nuclear interior of MCF7 cells, where they disrupt the nuclear lamina (green). Scale bars are 10µm. (B) Small gold nanospheres (15.6nm diameter) and gold nanoflowers (40-120nm), but not large gold nanospheres (60nm), alter the nuclear organization in MCF7 cells. In particular, nuclear pore complexes (NPC, red) and the nuclear lamina (Lamin A, green) show severe changes. Arrows mark some of the nuclei with altered morphology; scale bar is 20µm. (C) Small gold nanospheres and gold nanoflowers inhibit de novo RNA synthesis (magenta) in the nucleolus. Scale bar is 3µm. Adapted from ⁴⁶ with permission.