Institut Ciencia dels Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola, Spain.
Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, College of Science and Liberal Arts, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 323 Martin Luther King, Jr., Blvd., Newark, New Jersey 07102, United States.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 May 6;12(18):20253-20262. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c03040. Epub 2020 Apr 23.
Fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) are emerging as an attractive alternative to the well-established fluorescent inorganic nanoparticles or small organic dyes. Their proper design allows one to obtain biocompatible probes with superior brightness and high photostability, although usually affected by low colloidal stability. Herein, we present a type of FONs with outstanding photophysical and physicochemical properties in-line with the stringent requirements for biomedical applications. These FONs are based on quatsome (QS) nanovesicles containing a pair of fluorescent carbocyanine molecules that give rise to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Structural homogeneity, high brightness, photostability, and high FRET efficiency make these FONs a promising class of optical bioprobes. Loaded QSs have been used for in vitro bioimaging, demonstrating the nanovesicle membrane integrity after cell internalization, and the possibility to monitor the intracellular vesicle fate. Taken together, the proposed QSs loaded with a FRET pair constitute a promising platform for bioimaging and theranostics.
荧光有机纳米粒子（FONs）作为一种新兴的替代物，正在逐渐取代成熟的荧光无机纳米粒子或小分子染料。通过合理设计，可以获得具有优越亮度和高光稳定性的生物相容性探针，尽管其胶体稳定性通常较低。在此，我们提出了一种具有优异光物理和物理化学性质的 FONs，其符合生物医学应用的严格要求。这些 FONs 基于含有一对荧光碳菁分子的 quatsome (QS) 纳米囊泡，产生Förster 共振能量转移（FRET）。结构均一性、高亮度、高光稳定性和高 FRET 效率使这些 FONs 成为一类有前途的光学生物探针。负载 QS 的 FONs 已用于体外生物成像，证明了纳米囊泡膜在细胞内化后的完整性，以及监测细胞内囊泡命运的可能性。总之，所提出的负载 FRET 对的 QS 构成了生物成像和治疗学的有前途的平台。
