Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2010;662:407-13. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1241-1_59.
Fluorophore mediated bio-signal retrieval has been extensively used in molecular imaging. However, only a limited number of fluorophores can be used for humans and their quantum yield is usually low. Another important issue is emitting fluorescence at the disease site, with a minimal non-specific emission at any other sites. Artificial quenching and enhancing of fluorescence was found to be possible by manipulating the distance between a fluorophore and a certain type of nanometal particle. Utilizing this unique property, we have designed a novel, FRET-like, fluorophore-nanoparticle complex. The complex emits fluorescence conditionally only at a disease site at an enhanced level. As a model system, our complex is designed to target breast cancer. As an initial step for developing this cancer locator, fluorescence alteration was studied when a spacer at various lengths is placed between a nanogold particle and a safe fluorophore.
荧光团介导的生物信号获取在分子成像中得到了广泛应用。然而，只有有限数量的荧光团可用于人体，并且它们的量子产率通常较低。另一个重要问题是在疾病部位发射荧光，而在任何其他部位的非特异性发射最小化。通过操纵荧光团和某种类型的纳米金属颗粒之间的距离，发现人工猝灭和增强荧光是可能的。利用这一独特的性质，我们设计了一种新型的，类似 FRET 的荧光团-纳米颗粒复合物。该复合物仅在疾病部位以增强的水平条件性地发射荧光。作为模型系统，我们的复合物设计用于靶向乳腺癌。作为开发这种癌症定位器的初步步骤，研究了在纳米金颗粒和安全荧光团之间放置不同长度的间隔子时荧光的变化。
