Lipid-PEG-folate encapsulated nanoparticles with aggregation induced emission characteristics: cellular uptake mechanism and two-photon fluorescence imaging.
Folate functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) that contain fluorogens with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics are fabricated to show bright far-red/near-infrared fluorescence, a large two-photon absorption cross section and low cytotoxicity, which are internalized into MCF-7 cancer cells mainly through caveolae-mediated endocytosis. One-photon excited in vivo fluorescence imaging illustrates that these AIE NPs can accumulate in a tumor and two-photon excited ex vivo tumor tissue imaging reveals that they can be easily detected in the tumor mass at a depth of 400 μm. These studies indicate that AIE NPs are promising alternatives to conventional TPA probes for biological imaging.
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Junlong
J
Geng
Kai
K
Li
Dan
D
Ding
Xinhai
X
Zhang
Wei
W
Qin
Jianzhao
J
Liu
Ben Zhong
BZ
Tang
Bin
B
Liu
D000818:Animals; D005453:Fluorescence; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D017785:Photons; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
C552831:poly(ethylene glycol)-folate; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D005492:Folic Acid