Antibody-coupled hydroxyapatite nanoparticles as efficient tools for labeling intracellular proteins

Abstract Smart biomaterials for active targeting are a novel way for biosensing, gene and drug delivery, and bioimaging. The functional additives are chosen according to the material carrier characteristics, i.e. the functional mercapto acids of different lengths. In order to identify the target tissue, cell, organ or molecule, the biomaterial must be equipped with a recognizing molecule on its surface. In most cases, semiconductor o metal materials are employed in bioimaging and biosensing applications; in gene and drug delivery area, it is useful to employ porous nanoparticles as carriers. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles have been proved efficiently in drug delivery. In this work we established a new protocol to obtain smart hydroxyapatite nanoparticles with 3-mercaptopropionic acid and anti-Actin molecules in order to localize actin molecules in cells.