Table 5.
Effect of different shapes of NPs on tumor penetration.
| Author | Nanoparticle type | Nanoparticle shape used | Type of treatment | Efficacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agarwal et al. [85] | Gold NPs | Nanohydrogel; cylindrical; nanorods; spherical NPs | 3D spheroid model | Better effect of cylindrical hydrogel NPs |
| Christian et al. [86] | Micelles | Filamentous and spherical | Mouse xenograft tumor | High tumor accumulation of filamentous |
| Lui et al. [87] | Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) | Carbon nanotubes | Cancer in mice | Tumor targeting effect |
| Bartczak et al. [88] | Gold NPs | Spherical, rod, hollow, silica-gold, core shell | Human endothelial cell uptake | High cellular uptake for the spherical and the lowest for the hollow shapes |
| Tak et al. [89] | Shaped silver NPs (AgNPs) | Rods, spherical, triangular | Skin permeability in hairless mice | Nanorods had maximum penetration |
| Champion et al. [84] | Nonspherical polystyrene particles | Spherical and filamentous | Cancer | Spherical shapes showed better tumor homing |
| Champion and Mitragotri [84] | Non-cross-linked polystyrene (PS) | Spheres, ellipsoids, elliptical disks, prolate ellipsoids, rectangular disks | Uptake by macrophages (phagocytosis) | Elongated NPs showed negligible phagocytosis |
| Kessentini and Barchiesi [90] | Gold NPs | Nanorods; spheroids; cylinders; capped cylinders, nanoshells; hollow nanospheres | Shallow skin cancer and deeper cancer | (i) Nanospheres for shallow cancer (ii) Nanospheres and nanorods for deep cancer |
| Bruckman et al. [91] | PEGylated tobacco mosaic virus | Nanorods and nanospheres | Blood circulation | Prolonged circulation of nanorods better than nanospheres |
| Geng et al. [92] | Paclitaxel-loaded filomicelles | Spherical and filamentous (filomicelle) | Blood vessels of rats and mice | Longer circulation of filomicelles |
| Uhl et al. [93] | Polymeric NPs | Sphere, short rod, long rod | Microfluidic device (transport in blood vessel) | Best treatment required combination of different shaped NPs administered at different times |
All the studies agreed that nanorods, discoidal, and micelles showed better tumor targeting accumulation and longer circulation. One study found better cellular uptake of spherical NPs compared to other shapes.