title: Fluorescent carbonaceous nanospheres as biological probe for noninvasive brain imaging.
abstract: Fluorescent carbonaceous nanospheres (CDs) have generated much excitement in bioimaging because of their impressive fluorescent properties and good biocompatibility. In this study, we evaluated the potential application of CDs in noninvasive brain imaging. A new kind of CDs was prepared by a heat treating method using glutamic acid and glucose as the precursors. The hydrated diameter and zeta potential of CDs were 101.1 nm (PDI=0.110) and -22.4 mV respectively. Palpable emission spectrum could be observed from 400 nm to 600 nm when excited at corresponding wavelength, suggesting CDs could be used as a noninvasive bio-probe for in vivo imaging. Additionally, several experiments indicated that CDs possess good serum stability and hemocompatibility with low cytotoxicity. In vitro, the CDs could be efficiently taken up by bEnd.3 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. In vivo, CDs could be used for noninvasive brain imaging due to its high accumulation in brain region, which was demonstrated by in vivo imaging and ex vivo tissue imaging. Moreover, the fluorescent distribution in tissue slice showed CDs accumulated in brain with high intensity. In conclusion, CDs were prepared using a simple one-step method with unique optical and good biological properties and could be used for noninvasive brain imaging.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Targeting and Drug Delivery Systems, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, No. 17, Block 3, Southern Renmin Road, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Shaobo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Targeting and Drug Delivery Systems, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, No. 17, Block 3, Southern Renmin Road, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Targeting and Drug Delivery Systems, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, No. 17, Block 3, Southern Renmin Road, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Xingli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Targeting and Drug Delivery Systems, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, No. 17, Block 3, Southern Renmin Road, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Jiantao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Shun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Xinguo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Targeting and Drug Delivery Systems, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, No. 17, Block 3, Southern Renmin Road, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 826 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai 201203, China. Electronic address: jhzhu@shmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Drug Targeting and Drug Delivery Systems, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, No. 17, Block 3, Southern Renmin Road, Chengdu 610041, China. Electronic address: gaohuile@scu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Huile
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D054118:Nanospheres / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Biological probe; Brain imaging; Fluorescent carbonaceous nanospheres