Mechanism of targeting abilities. (a) LA secretion of cells under normal culture conditions (***p < 0.001). (b) Effects of glycolysis inhibitors 3-BP on LA secretion. (c) Effects of glycolysis inhibitors DCA on LA secretion. (d) Fluorescence images of MCF-7 and GNRs-PEG-TPEI incubated for different times (red: Nuclear Red LCS1 dyes the nucleus, green: DiO dyes the membrane, and blue: GNRs-PEG-TPEI dyes the negatively charged cell membrane). (e) Fluorescence images of GNRs-PEG-TPEI applied to HepG2, Caco-2, MCF-7, and NCM460 (red: Nuclear Red LCS1 dyes the nucleus, green: DiO dyes the membrane, and blue: GNRs-PEG-TPEI dyes the negatively charged cell membrane). (f) Fluorescence images of GNRs-PEG-TPEI applied to coculture of Caco-2 and NCM460 (orange-red: DiI dyes the membrane of NCM460, green: DiO dyes the membrane of Caco-2, and blue: GNRs-PEG-TPEI dyes the negatively charged cell membrane). (g) Effect of DCA on cell fluorescence imaging (red: Nuclear Red LCS1 dyes the nucleus, green: DiO dyes the membrane, and blue: GNRs-PEG-TPEI dyes the negatively charged cell membrane). Images were collected using a Plan-apochromat 63×/1.4 oil immersion objective by sequential scanning, with excitation at 405 and 488 nm. Emission was collected by photomultiplier tubes in the ranges of 423–492 and 590–700 nm, respectively.