Biotin-decorated fluorescent silica nanoparticles with aggregation-induced emission characteristics: fabrication, cytotoxicity and biological applications
作者:Min Li、Jacky W. Y. Lam、Faisal Mahtab、Sijie Chen、Weijie Zhang、Yuning Hong、Jun Xiong、Qichang Zheng、Ben Zhong Tang
DOI:10.1039/c2tb00155a
日期:——
Biotin-decorated fluorescent silica nanoparticles (FSNPs) were successfully fabricated by a sol–gel reaction of silole-functionalized siloxane followed by a sequential reaction with tetraethoxysilane, (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane and biotin. The FSNPs were uniformly sized, spherical in shape and monodispersed. While their silole precursor was non-emissive in solution, the suspension of the FSNPs emitted strong green light upon photoexcitation due to the aggregation-induced emission characteristics of the silole aggregates in the hybrid nanoparticles. Morphology study and cell viability, trypan blue exclusion, Annexin V-FITC/PI apoptosis and ROS generation assays showed that the FSNPs showed low toxicity to living cells. The FSNPs worked as fluorescent visualizers for selective imaging of the cytoplasm of tumor cells with over-expressed biotin receptors. The fluorescent nanoparticles were lastingly retained inside the living cells, thus enabling long-term tumor cell tracking over multiple passages and quantitative analysis of tumor cell migration.
通过硅烯官能化硅氧烷与四乙氧基硅烷、(3-氨基丙基)三乙氧基硅烷和生物素依次发生溶胶-凝胶反应,成功制备了生物素装饰的荧光二氧化硅纳米粒子(FSNPs)。FSNPs 大小均匀,呈球形,单分散。虽然它们的硅分子前体在溶液中不发光,但由于混合纳米粒子中的硅分子聚集体具有聚集诱导发光的特性,FSNPs 的悬浮液在光激发下会发出强烈的绿光。形态学研究和细胞存活率、胰蓝排除、Annexin V-FITC/PI 细胞凋亡和 ROS 生成检测表明,FSNPs 对活细胞的毒性很低。FSNPs 可用作荧光显像剂,对过度表达生物素受体的肿瘤细胞的细胞质进行选择性成像。荧光纳米粒子可持久地保留在活细胞内,因此可对肿瘤细胞进行多次长期追踪,并对肿瘤细胞迁移进行定量分析。