title: Engineering fluorescent poly(dopamine) capsules.
abstract: The recent development of poly(dopamine) (PDA) capsules provides new opportunities for their application in biology and medicine. To advance the biomedical application of PDA capsules, strategies that enable the preparation of fluorescently labeled PDA (F-PDA) capsules are required, as this will allow evaluation of their cellular interactions using a range of fluorescence-based techniques. Herein, we report a facile approach for the fabrication of F-PDA capsules via the polymerization of dopamine (DA) on sacrificial templates in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). F-PDA capsules with well-defined sizes are prepared by templating different organic and inorganic particles. The resulting F-PDA capsules show negligible cytotoxicity in HeLa cells after incubation for 48 h. We also demonstrate visualization of the F-PDA capsules following internalization by HeLa cells using conventional fluorescence microscopy, en route toward detailed investigations on their biological interactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Melbourne , Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Müllner
authors.forename: Martin P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van Koeverden
authors.forename: Ka Fung
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Noi
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caruso