title: A methacrylate-based polymeric imidazole ligand yields quantum dots with low cytotoxicity and low nonspecific binding.
abstract: This paper assesses the biocompatibility for fluorescence imaging of colloidal nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) coated with a recently-developed multiply-binding methacrylate-based polymeric imidazole ligand. The QD samples were purified prior to ligand exchange via a highly repeatable gel permeation chromatography (GPC) method. A multi-well plate based protocol was used to characterize nonspecific binding and toxicity of the QDs toward human endothelial cells. Nonspecific binding in 1% fetal bovine serum was negligible compared to anionically-stabilized QD controls, and no significant toxicity was detected on 24h exposure. The nonspecific binding results were confirmed by fluorescence microscopy. This study is the first evaluation of biocompatibility in QDs initially purified by GPC and represents a scalable approach to comparison among nanocrystal-based bioimaging scaffolds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Colin M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Kayla M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Pate
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Anand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viswanath
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; USC Nanocenter, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Brian C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Benicewicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Biomedical Engineering Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Moss
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; USC Nanocenter, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States. Electronic address: greytak@sc.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Greytak
keywords: Bio-imaging; CdSe; Core/shell quantum dots; Fluorescence microscopy; Gel permeation chromatography; Ligand exchange; Live cells; Nonspecific binding; Polymer; Toxicity