Department of Zoology, Kongunadu Arts and Science College (Autonomous), G. N. Mills, Coimbatore, 641 029, Tamil Nadu, India.
Department of Zoology, Kongunadu Arts and Science College (Autonomous), G. N. Mills, Coimbatore, 641 029, Tamil Nadu, India.
Environ Res. 2021 Sep;200:111414. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111414. Epub 2021 May 27.
Herein, we demonstrated a sustainable green approach for the preparation of fluorescent biocompatible carbon quantum dots by microwave-assisted reflux synthesis from Aloe barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera) extract. The Transmission Electron Microscopic images reveal that the as-prepared CQDs are spherical with less than 5 nm in size. The CQDs are amorphous, showed an excitation-independent behaviour, emitted blue fluorescence and have a fluorescence quantum yield of 31%. The presence of -OH groups contributed to the blue emission and helped CQDs to disperse uniformly in an aqueous solution. The prepared CQDs were employed as a photocatalyst for the environmental remediation to degrade the anionic dye, eosin yellow under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the CQDs exhibited excellent photocatalytic efficiency of 98.55% within 80 min and a 100% efficiency within 100 min. Further, the cytotoxic properties of as-prepared CQDs are investigated in the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line using MTT assay. The results demonstrated a notable reduction in cell viability in a dose-subjected manner, and the cell viability decreased to 50% (IC) at a concentration of 52.2 ± 1.35 μg/mL. Furthermore, cellular internalization of CQDs in breast cancer cells is studied. As expected, CQDs are found to internalize by the cancer cells with blue emission as revealed by fluorescence microscope. In the end, CQDs in human breast cancer cells demonstrate the anti-proliferative effect and are found to be an impressive fluorescent probe for live-cell imaging, paving a path for its potential biomedical applications.
在此，我们展示了一种可持续的绿色方法，通过微波辅助回流合成从库拉索芦荟（Aloe vera）提取物中制备荧光生物相容性碳量子点。透射电子显微镜图像显示，所制备的 CQDs 是球形的，尺寸小于 5nm。CQDs 是无定形的，表现出与激发无关的行为，发射蓝色荧光，荧光量子产率为 31%。-OH 基团的存在有助于蓝色发射，并帮助 CQDs 在水溶液中均匀分散。所制备的 CQDs 被用作光催化剂，用于在可见光照射下环境修复以降解阴离子染料曙红 Y。结果表明，CQDs 在 80 分钟内表现出优异的光催化效率为 98.55%，在 100 分钟内达到 100%的效率。此外，通过 MTT 测定法在 MCF-7 乳腺癌细胞系中研究了所制备的 CQDs 的细胞毒性性质。结果表明，细胞活力以剂量依赖性方式显着降低，当浓度为 52.2±1.35μg/mL 时，细胞活力降低至 50%（IC）。此外，研究了 CQDs 在乳腺癌细胞中的细胞内摄取。正如预期的那样，CQDs 被癌细胞内化，荧光显微镜显示发出蓝色荧光。最后，CQDs 在人乳腺癌细胞中表现出抗增殖作用，并被发现是一种令人印象深刻的用于活细胞成像的荧光探针，为其潜在的生物医学应用铺平了道路。
