Tortiglione Claudia, Quarta Alessandra, Tino Angela, Manna Liberato, Cingolani Roberto, Pellegrino Teresa
CNR, Istituto di Cibernetica E Caianiello, Via Campi Flegrei, 34, 80078 Pozzuoli, Italy.
Bioconjug Chem. 2007 May-Jun;18(3):829-35. doi: 10.1021/bc060355t. Epub 2007 Apr 19.
Quantum dots (QDs) have been used extensively as fluorescent markers in several studies on living cells. Here, we report the synthesis of conjugates based on glutathione (GSH) and QDs (GSH-QDs) and we prove how these functionalized fluorescent probes can be used for staining a freshwater invertebrate called Hydra vulgaris. GSH is known to promote Hydra feeding response by inducing mouth opening. We demonstrate that GSH-QDs as well are able to elicit biological activity in such an animal, which results in the fluorescent staining of Hydra. GSH-QDs, once they reach the gastric region, are internalized by endodermal cells. The efficiency of GSH-QD internalization increases significantly when nanoparticles are coadministrated with free GSH. We also compared the behavior of bare QDs to that of GSH-QDs both in the presence and in the absence of free GSH. The conclusions from these series of experiments point to the presence of GSH binding proteins in the endodermal cell layer and uncover a novel role played by glutathione in this organism.
量子点（QDs）在多项活细胞研究中已被广泛用作荧光标记物。在此，我们报告了基于谷胱甘肽（GSH）和量子点（GSH-QDs）的缀合物的合成，并证明了这些功能化荧光探针可用于对一种名为普通水螅的淡水无脊椎动物进行染色。已知GSH通过诱导口张开促进水螅的摄食反应。我们证明GSH-QDs同样能够在此类动物中引发生物活性，这导致了水螅的荧光染色。GSH-QDs一旦到达胃部区域，就会被内胚层细胞内化。当纳米颗粒与游离GSH共同给药时，GSH-QD内化效率显著提高。我们还比较了在有和没有游离GSH的情况下，裸量子点与GSH-QDs的行为。这一系列实验的结论表明内胚层细胞层中存在GSH结合蛋白，并揭示了谷胱甘肽在该生物体中发挥的新作用。
