Unraveling GLUT-mediated transcytosis pathway of glycosylated nanodisks

Glucose transporter(GLUT)-mediated transcytosis has been validated as an efficient method to cross the blood-brain barrier and enhance brain transport of nanomedicines.However,the transcytosis process remains elusive.Glycopeptide-modified nanodisks(Gly-A7R-NDs),which demonstrated high capacity of brain targeting via GLUT-mediated transcytosis in our previous reports,were utilized to better understand the whole transcytosis process.Gly-A7R-NDs internalized brain capillary endothelial cells mainly via GLUT-mediated/clathrin dependent endocytosis and macropinocytosis.The intracellular Gly-A7R-NDs remained intact,and the main excretion route of Gly-A7R-NDs was lysosomal exocytosis.Glycosylation of nanomedicine was crucial in GLUT-mediated transcytosis,while morphology did not affect the efficiency.This study highlights the pivotal roles of lysosomal exocytosis in the process of GLUT-mediated transcytosis,providing a new impetus to development of brain targeting drug delivery by accelerating lysosomal exocytosis.