Biomedical Nanocenter, School of Life Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, 29 East Erdos Street, Hohhot, P. R. China.
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical System, Terahertz Science Cooperative Innovation Center, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Road, Shanghai, P. R. China.
Luminescence. 2021 Feb;36(1):28-34. doi: 10.1002/bio.3907. Epub 2020 Jul 18.
Fluorescent nanostructures have been widely applied to biomedical researches and clinical diagnosis such as biolabeling/imaging/sensing and have even acted as therapy reagents. Peptide-based fluorescent nanostructures attract recent interest from biomedical researchers. Inspired by the natural existence of GHK-Cu complex with a growth factor-like effect in human blood, here we have developed a novel approach for designing nanosensors through the co-assembling of two kinds of biomolecules. By making best use of both π-π stacking between carbon rings and the easy-oxidation property of an important transmitter molecule, dopamine (DA), we successfully built up a supersensitive and robust fluorescent pH nanosensor by co-assembling oxidized DA (DA ) with a tripeptide GHK. The GHK-DA nanostructures have a quantum yield of 20.82%, which might be the brightest one among all the current co-assembling structures merely through unmodified biomolecules. We envision this approach could open a new avenue for not only hybrid nanostructure construction, but also may inspire the bioengineering of in vivo luminescent probes.
荧光纳米结构已被广泛应用于生物医学研究和临床诊断，如生物标记/成像/传感，甚至用作治疗试剂。基于肽的荧光纳米结构引起了生物医学研究人员的兴趣。受人类血液中具有生长因子样作用的 GHK-Cu 复合物自然存在的启发，我们开发了一种通过两种生物分子共组装设计纳米传感器的新方法。通过充分利用碳环之间的π-π 堆积和重要递质分子多巴胺（DA）的易氧化性质，我们成功地通过将氧化 DA（DA）与三肽 GHK 共组装构建了一种超灵敏和强韧的荧光 pH 纳米传感器。GHK-DA 纳米结构的量子产率为 20.82%，这可能是所有当前共组装结构中最亮的一个，仅通过未修饰的生物分子。我们设想这种方法不仅可以为混合纳米结构的构建开辟新途径，而且可能激发体内发光探针的生物工程学。
