title: Thiazole derivative-modified upconversion nanoparticles for Hg(2+) detection in living cells.
abstract: Mercury ion (Hg(2+)) is an extremely toxic ion, which will accumulate in human bodies and cause severe nervous system damage. Therefore, the sensitive and efficient monitoring of Hg(2+) in human bodies is of great importance. Upconversion nanoparticle (UCNPs) based nano probes exhibit no autofluorescence, deep penetration depth and chemical stability in biological samples, as well as a large anti-stokes shift. In this study, we have developed thiazole-derivative-functionalized UCNPs, and employed an upconversion emission intensity ratio of 540 nm to 803 nm (I540/I803) as a ratiometric signal to detect Hg(2+) in living cells showing excellent photo stability and high selectivity. Our nano probe was characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). The low cytotoxicity of our probe was confirmed by an MTT assay and the UCL test in HeLa cells was carried out by confocal microscopy. Our results demonstrated that organic-dye-functionalized UCNPs should be a good strategy for detecting toxic metal ions when studying cellular biosystems.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798. qczhang@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798. qczhang@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798. qczhang@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543.
authors.forename: Xiaowang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543.
authors.forename: Yuhai
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 8410501, Israel.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798. qczhang@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543.
authors.forename: Xiaogang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798. qczhang@ntu.edu.sg and Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371.
authors.forename: Qichun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D008628:Mercury