Unexpected intracellular biodegradation and recrystallization of gold nanoparticles

Gold nanoparticles are used in an expanding spectrum of biomedical applications. However, little is known about their long-term fate in the organism as it is generally admitted that the inertness of gold nanoparticles prevents their biodegradation. In this work, the biotransformations of gold nanoparticles captured by primary fibroblasts were monitored during up to 6 mo. The combination of electron microscopy imaging and transcriptomics study...