Issue 5, 2022

Water stable, red emitting, carbon nanoparticles stimulate 3D cell invasion via clathrin-mediated endocytic uptake

Abstract

Bright fluorescent nanoparticles with excitation and emission towards the red end of the spectrum are highly desirable in the field of bioimaging. We present here a new class of organic carbon-based nanoparticles (CNPs) with a robust quantum yield and fluorescence towards the red region of the spectrum. Using organic substrates such as para-phenylenediamine (PPDA) dispersed in diphenyl ether under reflux conditions, we achieved scalable amounts of CNPs with an average size of 27 nm. These CNPs were readily taken up by different mammalian cells, and we show that they prefer clathrin-mediated endocytosis for their cellular entry route. Not only can these CNPs be specifically taken up by cells, but they also stimulate cellular processes such as cell invasion from 3D spheroid models. This new class of CNPs, which have sizes similar to those of proteinaceous ligands, hold immense potential for their surface functionalization. These could be explored as promising bioimaging agents for biomedical imaging and intracellular drug delivery.

Graphical abstract: Water stable, red emitting, carbon nanoparticles stimulate 3D cell invasion via clathrin-mediated endocytic uptake

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Nov 2021
Accepted
17 Jan 2022
First published
26 Jan 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale Adv., 2022,4, 1375-1386

Water stable, red emitting, carbon nanoparticles stimulate 3D cell invasion via clathrin-mediated endocytic uptake

U. Singh, A. G. Teja, S. Walia, P. Vaswani, S. Dalvi and D. Bhatia, Nanoscale Adv., 2022, 4, 1375 DOI: 10.1039/D1NA00813G

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