Crown ethers help to design advanced nanobiosensors for 3D tissue models

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Fluorescence imaging helps studying biological processes in live cells, tissues, animals and humans in a minimally invasive way, to advance the basic, cancer and brain research, from the lab to the bedside. State-of-the-art biosensing nanoparticles are renown for exceptional brightness and stability, unmatched by the fluorescent dyes and fluorescent proteins. However, even such advanced materials as nanoparticles often suffer from poor performance, complex interaction with biomolecules and cells, when challenged with real biological models, such as brain tissue.

In search of new ways of improving brain tissue staining with polymer nanoparticles, the collaborative team including researchers from University College Cork, Graz University of Technology (Austria), University of Maryland (USA) and Empa (Switzerland) and led by Dr. Ruslan Dmitriev discovered that widely known RL100 cationic polymer can be successfully combined with the new generation of deep red fluorescent ion-selective biosensors called fluoroionophores. This innovative fluorescent nanomaterial, combining hydrophobic and charged moieties, has strong ability to stain the broad range of cells, including ‘difficult-to-grow’ neurons and glial cells. For the first time, the efficient staining of 3D tissue models was shown, which included tumor- and stem cell-based spheroids, organoids and brain sections. After thorough study, confirming the mechanism of their internalization and intracellular stability, the Team applied fluoroionophore nanoparticles for imaging of potassium-induced changes in membrane potential in neuronal cell cultures, and in vivo epileptic seizures in the brain. Developed nanoparticles are highly useful tool as advanced biosensor for imaging of potassium ion dynamics in neuronal cells and the living brain, bioenergetics and drug screening. They can be used as a platform for advanced design of future polymer-based nanoparticle biosensors.


The research has been published in Advanced Functional Materials journal on 5-Jan-2018. The full text can be assessed here.

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