Receptor-mediated endocytosis of nanoparticles of various shapes.

Cellular uptake through endocytosis is crucial for drug delivery and nanomedicine. However, the conditions under which passive endocytosis (i.e., not ATP driven) takes place are not well understood. We report MD simulations of the passive uptake of ligand-coated nanoparticles with varying size, shape, coverage, and membrane-binding strength. We find that the efficiency of passive endocytosis is higher for spherocylindrical particles than for spheres and that endocytosis is suppressed for particles with sharp edges.