title: A Gold@Polydopamine Core-Shell Nanoprobe for Long-Term Intracellular Detection of MicroRNAs in Differentiating Stem Cells.
abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent an emerging class of biomarkers for studying and understanding biological events; the development of viable tools for detecting or monitoring the intracellular expression levels of specific miRNAs is of great interest to life scientists and biomedical engineers. Here, we describe the fabrication of a novel class of core-shell nanoprobes that comprise a gold nanoparticle core and a polydopamine (PDA) shell. Our nanoprobes can be used to specifically track the expression profiles of two miRNA markers of osteogenic differentiation (i.e., osteogenesis), namely, miR-29b and miR-31, in differentiating human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The newly designed nanoprobes may hold great promise in the noninvasive investigation of the long-term dynamics of cellular events such as stem cell differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering (Biomedical Engineering), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Chun Kit K
authors.initials: CKK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic Engineering (Biomedical Engineering), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China. jchchoi@ee.cuhk.edu.hk.|Shun Hing Institute of Advanced Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China. jchchoi@ee.cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Chung Hang J
authors.initials: CHJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Shun Hing Institute of Advanced Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China. lbian@mae.cuhk.edu.hk.|Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering (Biomedical Engineering), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China. lbian@mae.cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bian
mesh_terms: D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007211:Indoles / Q000737:chemistry; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D015335:Molecular Probes; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D007211:Indoles; D035683:MicroRNAs; D015335:Molecular Probes; D011108:Polymers; C568283:polydopamine; D006046:Gold
keywords: Gold nanoparticles; Intracellular detection; MicroRNAs; Osteogenic differentiation; Polydopamine shell; Stem cells