title: Labeling Monomeric Insulin with Renal-Clearable Luminescent Gold Nanoparticles.
abstract: In the native physiological environment, inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) often induce nonspecific protein adsorption, which could significantly alter the function of the proteins they labeled. As a result, small fluorescent dyes are still widely used in the imaging of proteins in animals due to their minimal interference with protein function. Here, we used monomeric insulin as a model and compared its bioactivity before and after labeling with renal-clearable near-infrared-emitting gold NPs. These NPs were chosen because they have high resistance to serum protein adsorption and low nonspecific accumulation. We have found that a 1:1 insulin-NP ratio can be achieved, where the insulin-NPs show minimal serum protein binding with fully retained bioactivity comparable to that of unlabeled insulin. These results show a proof of concept that renal-clearable NPs can behave like small molecules in protein labeling without changing the individual protein's function, laying down a foundation for in vivo tracking of proteins with multimodality imaging techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, Texas 75080, United States.
authors.forename: Rodrigo D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Vinluan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, Texas 75080, United States.
authors.forename: Mengxiao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, Texas 75080, United States.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gannaway
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, Texas 75080, United States.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sullins
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, Texas 75080, United States.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson, Texas 75080, United States.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007328:Insulin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000494:pharmacology; D049449:Luminescence; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008958:Models, Molecular; D061848:Optical Imaging; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin; D049408:Luminescent Agents; D006046:Gold