Issue 12, 2018

An enzymatic polymerization-activated silver nanocluster probe for in situ apoptosis assay

Abstract

As an emerging category of fluorophores, nucleic acid-stabilized silver nanoclusters (DNA/AgNCs) have attracted a great deal of interest and have been widely applied for interdisciplinary research. In this work, we have constructed a novel DNA/AgNC probe for cell apoptosis detection and imaging based on an enzyme-polymerized polyadenylic acid (poly-dA) DNA chain and a toehold strand displacement reaction. This method can effectively “tag” intracellular genomic DNA fragments, a biochemical hallmark of apoptosis, with poly-dA DNA chains up to 400-bases produced by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-activated polymerization. The strand displacement initiated by the target poly-dA DNA chain releases the quencher labeled-DNA from the DNA/AgNC probe, leading to a significant fluorescence lighting-up of DNA/AgNCs for the sensitive detection of cell apoptosis, with a high signal-to-background ratio (S/B = 58). Using the DNA/AgNC-based assay, as few as 20 apoptotic cells can be detected in vitro. Furthermore, the feasibility of our approach was demonstrated by the in situ quantitative analysis of apoptosis in HepG2 cells without the need for tedious washing and separation steps.

Graphical abstract: An enzymatic polymerization-activated silver nanocluster probe for in situ apoptosis assay

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Mar 2018
Accepted
04 May 2018
First published
07 May 2018

Analyst, 2018,143, 2908-2914

An enzymatic polymerization-activated silver nanocluster probe for in situ apoptosis assay

R. Zhu, X. Luo, L. Deng, C. Lei, Y. Huang, Z. Nie and S. Yao, Analyst, 2018, 143, 2908 DOI: 10.1039/C8AN00535D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements