Vitali Agostina, Demichelis Maria Paola, Di Martino Greta, Postuma Ian, Bortolussi Silva, Falqui Andrea, Milanese Chiara, Ferrara Chiara, Sommi Patrizia, Anselmi-Tamburini Umberto
Department of Chemistry, University of Pavia, V.le Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Unit of Pavia, National Institute of Nuclear Physics, INFN, Via A.Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Life (Basel). 2023 Feb 2;13(2):429. doi: 10.3390/life13020429.
Inorganic nanoparticles of boron-rich compounds represent an attractive alternative to boron-containing molecules, such as boronophenylalanine or boranes, for BNCT applications. This work describes the synthesis and biological activity of multifunctional boron carbide nanoparticles stabilized with polyacrylic acid (PAA) and a gadolinium ()-rich solid phase. A fluorophore (DiI) was included in the PAA functionalization, allowing the confocal microscopy imaging of the nanoparticles. Analysis of the interaction and activity of these fluorescent -containing nanoparticles (FGdBNPs) with cultured cells was appraised using an innovative correlative microscopy approach combining intracellular neutron autoradiography, confocal, and SEM imaging. This new approach allows visualizing the cells, the FGdBNP, and the events deriving from the nuclear process in the same image. Quantification of by neutron autoradiography in cells treated with FGdBNPs confirmed a significant accumulation of NPs with low levels of cellular toxicity. These results suggest that these NPs might represent a valuable tool for achieving a high boron concentration in tumoral cells.
富含硼的化合物的无机纳米颗粒是硼中子俘获疗法（BNCT）应用中含硼分子（如硼苯丙氨酸或硼烷）的一种有吸引力的替代物。这项工作描述了用聚丙烯酸（PAA）和富含钆（）的固相稳定的多功能碳化硼纳米颗粒的合成及其生物活性。在PAA功能化过程中加入了一种荧光团（DiI），从而实现了纳米颗粒的共聚焦显微镜成像。使用一种创新的相关显微镜方法，结合细胞内中子放射自显影、共聚焦和扫描电子显微镜成像，评估了这些含荧光纳米颗粒（FGdBNPs）与培养细胞的相互作用和活性。这种新方法能够在同一图像中观察细胞、FGdBNP以及核过程产生的事件。通过中子放射自显影对用FGdBNPs处理的细胞中的进行定量分析，证实了纳米颗粒的显著积累且细胞毒性水平较低。这些结果表明，这些纳米颗粒可能是在肿瘤细胞中实现高硼浓度的一种有价值的工具。
