title: Characterization of CdTe/CdSe quantum dots-transferrin fluorescent probes for cellular labeling.
abstract: In this paper, we prepared three types of transferrin-quantum dots conjugates (QDs-Tf) using three different methods (electrostatic interaction, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) coupling, denatured transferrin (dTf) coating). Fluorescence emission spectra, surface characteristics, zeta potentials of quantum dots (QDs) and QDs-Tf fluorescent probes were characterized by spectrophotometer, capillary electrophoresis, and dynamic light scattering. Fluorescent imaging of HeLa cells was also performed by QDs and QDs-Tf fluorescent probes. It was found that the fluorescence imaging performances of QDs-Tf probes prepared by electrostatic interaction and EDC coupling were better compared with the one prepared by dTf coating. Then a real-time single cell detection system was established to quantitatively evaluate cell labeling effects of QDs-Tf fluorescent probes. It was found that for cell labeling efficiency, the proportion of cells labeled by quantum dot probes to a group of cells, QDs-Tf probe prepared by EDC coupling showed the highest labeling efficiency (85.55±3.88%), followed by electrostatic interaction (78.86±9.57%), and dTf coating showed the lowest (40.09±10.2%). This efficiency order was confirmed by flow cytometry results. This study demonstrated the relationship between conjugation methods and the resultant QDs-Tf probes and provided a foundation for choosing appropriate QDs-Tf probes in cell labeling.
authors: Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wuhan, HuBei 430074, PR China.
authors: Li-Yun
authors: LY
authors: Guan
authors: Yong-Qiang
authors: YQ
authors: Li
authors: Song
authors: S
authors: Lin
authors: Ming-Zhen
authors: MZ
authors: Zhang
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Zhi-Ya
authors: ZY
authors: Ma
authors: Yuan-Di
authors: YD
authors: Zhao
mesh_terms: D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D057054:Molecular Imaging; D045663:Quantum Dots; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013691:Tellurium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013864:Thioglycolates / Q000737:chemistry; D014168:Transferrin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D018036:Selenium Compounds; D013864:Thioglycolates; D014168:Transferrin; C017487:2-mercaptoacetate; C058667:cadmium selenide; D013691:Tellurium; C028337:cadmium telluride