Yu Chenggong, Bao Hongying, Chen Zhongjin, Li Xiaodi, Liu Xiaoyun, Wang Weizhi, Huang Jie, Zhang Zhijun
School of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
J Mater Chem B. 2021 Mar 28;9(12):2854-2865. doi: 10.1039/d0tb02997a. Epub 2021 Mar 12.
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been extensively employed for computed tomography (CT) imaging in cell labeling and tracking because of their strong X-ray attenuation coefficient and excellent biocompatibility. However, the design and synthesis of stimuli-responsive AuNPs to modulate their endocytosis and exocytosis for optimal cell labeling and tracking are promising but challenging. Herein, we report an innovative labeling strategy based on temperature-responsive AuNPs (TRAuNPs) with high cell labeling efficiency and extended intracellular retention duration. We have manifested that the TRAuNP labeling imposes a negligible adverse effect on the function of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). Further experiment with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) model mice has demonstrated the feasibility of TRAuNP labeling for long time CT imaging tracking of transplanted hMSCs. What's more, the survival of transplanted hMSCs could also be monitored simultaneously using bioluminescence imaging after the expression of luciferase reporter genes. Therefore, we believe that this dual-modal labeling and tracking strategy enables visualization of the transplanted hMSCs in vivo, which may provide an important insight into the role of stem cells in the IPF therapy.
金纳米颗粒（AuNPs）因其具有很强的X射线衰减系数和出色的生物相容性，已被广泛用于细胞标记和追踪的计算机断层扫描（CT）成像。然而，设计和合成刺激响应性AuNPs以调节其胞吞作用和胞吐作用以实现最佳的细胞标记和追踪是有前景但具有挑战性的。在此，我们报告了一种基于温度响应性AuNPs（TRAuNPs）的创新标记策略，其具有高细胞标记效率和延长的细胞内保留时间。我们已经证明，TRAuNP标记对人间充质干细胞（hMSCs）的功能产生的不利影响可忽略不计。对特发性肺纤维化（IPF）模型小鼠进行的进一步实验证明了TRAuNP标记用于长期CT成像追踪移植的hMSCs的可行性。此外，在荧光素酶报告基因表达后，还可以使用生物发光成像同时监测移植的hMSCs的存活情况。因此，我们相信这种双模态标记和追踪策略能够在体内可视化移植的hMSCs，这可能为干细胞在IPF治疗中的作用提供重要的见解。
