Wu Xiaoyan, Wang Meiyan, Yu Feng, Cai Hao, Tedesco Antonio Claudio, Li Zijian, Bi Hong
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China.
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China.
Analyst. 2024 Feb 12;149(4):1221-1228. doi: 10.1039/d3an02034g.
Cancer-targeted nanotechnology has a new trend in the design and preparation of new materials with functions for imaging and therapeutic applications simultaneously. As a new type of carbon nanomaterial, the inherent core-shell structured carbon dots (CDs) can be designed to provide a modular nanoplatform for integration of bioimaging and therapeutic capabilities. Here, core-shell structured CDs are designed and synthesized from levofloxacin and arginine and named Arg-CDs, in which levofloxacin-derived chromophores with up-conversion fluorescence are densely packed into the carbon core while guanidine groups are located on the shell, providing nitric oxide (NO) for photodynamic therapy of tumors. Moreover, the chromophores in the carbon core irradiated by visible LED light generate large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROSs) that will oxidize the guanidine groups located on the shell of the Arg-CDs and further increase the NO releasing capacity remarkably. The as-synthesized Arg-CDs show excellent biocompatibility, bright up-conversion fluorescence, and a light-controlled ROS & NO releasing ability, which can be a potential light-modulated nanoplatform to integrate bioimaging and therapeutic functionalities.
癌症靶向纳米技术在同时具有成像和治疗应用功能的新材料设计与制备方面有了新趋势。作为一种新型碳纳米材料，具有固有核壳结构的碳点（CDs）可被设计成一个用于整合生物成像和治疗能力的模块化纳米平台。在此，由左氧氟沙星和精氨酸设计并合成了核壳结构的碳点，并将其命名为Arg-CDs，其中具有上转换荧光的左氧氟沙星衍生发色团密集堆积在碳核中，而胍基位于壳层上，为肿瘤的光动力治疗提供一氧化氮（NO）。此外，由可见LED光照射碳核中的发色团会产生大量活性氧（ROSs），这些ROSs会氧化位于Arg-CDs壳层上的胍基，并进一步显著提高NO释放能力。合成的Arg-CDs表现出优异的生物相容性、明亮的上转换荧光以及光控ROS和NO释放能力，这使其成为一个整合生物成像和治疗功能的潜在光调制纳米平台。
