title: AIE-Active Tetraphenylethylene Cross-Linked N-Isopropylacrylamide Polymer: A Long-Term Fluorescent Cellular Tracker.
abstract: There is a great demand to understand cell transplantation, migration, division, fusion, and lysis. Correspondingly, illuminant object-labeled bioprobes have been employed as long-term cellular tracers, which could provide valuable insights into detecting these biological processes. In this work, we designed and synthesized a fluorescent polymer, which was comprised of hydrophilic N-isopropylacrylamide polymers as matrix and a hydrophobic tetraphenylethene (TPE) unit as AIE-active cross-linkers (DDBV). It was found that when the feed molar ratio of N-isopropylacrylamides to cross-linkers was 22:1, the produced polymers demonstrated the desirable LCST at 37.5 °C. And also, the temperature sensitivity of polymers could induce phase transfer within a narrow window (32-38 °C). Meanwhile, phase transfer was able to lead the florescent response. And thus, we concluded that two responses occur when one stimulus is input. Therefore, the new cross-linker of DDBV rendered a new performance from PNIPAm and a new chance to create new materials. Moreover, the resulted polymers demonstrated very good biocompatibility with living A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells and L929 mouse fibroblast cells, respectively. Both of these cells retained very active viabilities in the concentration range of 7.8-125 μL/mg of polymers. Notably, P[(NIPAm)22-(DDBV)1] (P6) could be readily internalized by living cells with a noninvasive manner. The cellular staining by the fluorescent polymer is so indelible that it enables cell tracing for at least 10 passages.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Hengchang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Chunxuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Zengming
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Haiying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Zhiwang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Jinhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoqiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University , Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China.
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lei
mesh_terms: D000072283:A549 Cells; D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D058948:Cell Tracking / Q000379:methods*; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D051379:Mice; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D004396:Coloring Agents; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide
keywords: aggregation-induced emission (AIE); long-term cellular tracing; poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm); tetraphenylethene (TPE); thermosensitive