title: Sustainable, Rapid Synthesis of Bright-Luminescent CuInS2-ZnS Alloyed Nanocrystals: Multistage Nano-xenotoxicity Assessment and Intravital Fluorescence Bioimaging in Zebrafish-Embryos.
abstract: Near-infrared (NIR) luminescent CuInS2-ZnS alloyed nanocrystals (CIZS-NCs) for highly fluorescence bioimaging have received considerable interest in recent years. Owing, they became a desirable alternative to heavy-metal based-NCs and organic dyes with unique optical properties and low-toxicity for bioimaging and optoelectronic applications. In the present study, bright and robust CIZS-NCs have been synthesized within 5 min, as-high-as 230 °C without requiring any inert-gas atmosphere via microwave-solvothermal (MW-ST) method. Subsequently, the in vitro and in vivo nano-xenotoxicity and cellular uptake of the MUA-functionalized CIZS-NCs were investigated in L929, Vero, MCF7 cell lines and zebrafish-embryos. We observed minimal toxicity and acute teratogenic consequences upto 62.5 μg/ml of the CIZS-NCs in zebrafish-embryos. We also observed spontaneous uptake of the MUA-functionalized CIZS-NCs by 3 dpf older zebrafish-embryos that are evident through bright red fluorescence-emission at a low concentration of 7.8 μg/mL. Hence, we propose that the rapid, low-cost, large-scale "sustainable" MW-ST synthesis of CIZS-NCs, is an ideal bio-nanoprobe with good temporal and spatial resolution for rapid labeling, long-term in vivo tracking and intravital-fluorescence-bioimaging (IVBI).
authors.affiliation: Advanced Functional Nanostructured Materials Laboratory, Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, Madanjeet School of Green Energy Technologies, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry-605014, India.
authors.forename: S Shashank
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chetty
authors.affiliation: Advanced Functional Nanostructured Materials Laboratory, Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, Madanjeet School of Green Energy Technologies, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry-605014, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Praneetha
authors.affiliation: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics &Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), South Campus, New Delhi 110025, India.|Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi 110025, India.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.affiliation: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics &Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), South Campus, New Delhi 110025, India.|Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi 110025, India.
authors.forename: Chetana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sachidanandan
authors.affiliation: Advanced Functional Nanostructured Materials Laboratory, Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, Madanjeet School of Green Energy Technologies, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry-605014, India.
authors.forename: A Vadivel
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Murugan