Versatile Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles for High-Resolution O2 Imaging in Cells and 3D Tissue Models

By -
It is well-known that the fluorescent and phosphorescent nanoparticle sensor probes are a powerful imaging tool to study the physiology at the level of live cells and tissues. They are bright, exceptionally photostable and can be compatible with multiple detection modes - "multi-modal" probes - for quantitative measurements. However, they are often tailored to particular cell model and their targeting to specific cell types represents a challenging task.
To address this, Dr. S. Borisov (Graz University of Technology), Dr. R. Dmitriev and collaborators from Graz University of Technology (Austria), UCC, RCSI (Dublin) and Pirogov Russian State Medical University (Russia) introduced a new concept of copolymer nanoparticles for O2 sensing. These nanoparticles are based on two dyes (antenna and porphyrin) with controlled FRET leading to improved (5-10 times) brightness and two-photon absorption, in comparison to any existing Pt-porphyrin-based O2-sensitive nanoparticles. On the other hand, the copolymers can be prepared with different charged groups thus allowing their "optimisation" for particular biological models, which was demonstrated with cultured cells and multi-cellular tumour spheroid models. Such copolymer nanoparticles can become a useful tool for broad range of applications in biology and are expected to inspire the design of (bio) sensors for other analytes.

This work has been published in ACS Nano journal.

The full text of the article can be found here.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Affordable microscopy of spheroid oxygenation (video protocol)

By -
Image
Our lab has published a new protocol paper, this time with the video, in the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE)! In this research method paper, we report the use of red/ near-infrared emitting biocompatible nanosensors to monitor oxygenation of the live multicellular spheroids (made of one or more cell types), together with the tracers of cell death. While this methodology is typically available only for users with 'high-end' PLIM microscopes and alike, we show that using of ratiometric readout with the red and near infrared emitting fluorescent nanosensors makes this possible on broadly available 'widefield' fluorescence microscope platforms. This method helps comparing oxygenation of spheroids, assessing this in a long-term and kinetic assays, comparing their variability and viability, essential in follow-up 3D printing applications. This is the first article in our collection ' Quantitative live cell imaging of 3D models' , guest-edited together with
Read more

JoVE Methods collection: Quantitative live cell imaging of 3D models

By -
Image
Together with Prof. Margarida Barroso (Albany Medical College), we guest edit a collection of video protocols, hosted by the Journal of Visualised Experiments ( JoVE ), and  dedicated to the quantitative live cell imaging in 3D .  We expect bringing together some leaders and innovators in various aspects of the quantitative live fluorescence microscopies applied to ex vivo animal models, organoids and 3D engineered tissue blocks. The collection, which just has been started, can be assessed here .
Read more