Key Lab of Green Chemistry and Technology of MOE in College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China.
Nanoscale. 2014 Nov 6;6(23):14319-25. doi: 10.1039/c4nr04473h.
Fluorescent bio-imaging has received significant attention in a myriad of research disciplines, and QDs are playing an increasingly important role in these areas. Doped QDs, an important alternative to conventional heavy metal-containing QDs are employed for biomedical applications. However, since QDs are exogenous substances to the biological environment, the biocompatibility of QDs is expected to be challenging in some cases. Herein, nano fluorine-doped hydroxyapatite (FAp, a well-known biocompatible material) was introduced to endow biocompatibility to Cd-free Mn-doped ZnSe@ZnS QDs. Thus, a nano-FAp-QD conjugate was developed and the biocompatibility, as well as potential cell imaging application, was investigated. To construct the proposed conjugate, Cd-free highly luminescent Mn-doped ZnSe@ZnS QDs and monodispersed nano-FAp were first prepared in high-temperature organic media. For facilitating the conjugation, hydrophobic nano-FAp was made water soluble via o-phosphoethanolamine (PEA) coating, which further provides conjugating sites for QDs to anchor. Cytotoxicity studies indicated the developed conjugate indeed possesses good compatibility and low toxicity to cells. The nano-FAp-QDs conjugate was successfully employed for cancer cell staining for at least 24 h, demonstrating the potential usefulness of this material in future biomedical research.
荧光生物成像在众多研究领域受到了广泛关注，而量子点在这些领域中的应用也越来越重要。掺杂量子点作为传统含重金属量子点的重要替代品，被应用于生物医学领域。然而，由于量子点是生物环境中的外源物质，在某些情况下，量子点的生物相容性预计会具有挑战性。在此，引入了纳米氟掺杂羟基磷灰石（FAp，一种众所周知的生物相容性材料），以使无镉锰掺杂的 ZnSe@ZnS 量子点具有生物相容性。因此，开发了一种纳米-FAp-QD 缀合物，并研究了其生物相容性和潜在的细胞成像应用。为了构建所提出的缀合物，首先在高温有机介质中制备了无镉高发光锰掺杂 ZnSe@ZnS 量子点和单分散纳米-FAp。为了便于缀合，疏水性纳米-FAp 通过邻磷乙醇胺（PEA）涂层使其水溶性化，该涂层进一步为 QD 提供了锚固的结合位点。细胞毒性研究表明，所开发的缀合物确实对细胞具有良好的相容性和低毒性。该纳米-FAp-QD 缀合物成功地用于癌细胞染色至少 24 小时，表明该材料在未来生物医学研究中的潜在用途。
