Issue 20, 2024

Rapid targeting and imaging of mitochondria via carbon dots using an amino acid-based amphiphile as a carrier

Abstract

Green-fluorescent biocompatible carbon dots with a quantum yield of 40% were successfully synthesized through a solvothermal process and then they are comprehensively characterized. The carbon dots showed a negatively charged surface owing to the presence of carboxylic groups. This negative surface charge hinders the effective targeting and imaging of mitochondria. To address this limitation, a new approach is developed in this study. An amphiphile containing phenylalanine, with a positively charged polar head consisting of triphenylphosphine and a hydrophobic aliphatic tail, was designed, synthesized, purified, and characterized. This amphiphile formed spherical micelle-type nanostructures in an aqueous medium in the aggregated state. Although these nanoprobes lack inherent fluorescence, they exhibited the capability to image mitochondria when their spherical micelle-type nanostructures were decorated with negatively charged fluorescent nanocarbon dots in both cancerous (KB cells) and non-cancerous (CHO cells) cell lines. Notably, carbon dots without the amphiphile failed to penetrate the cell membrane as they exhibited significantly low emission inside the cell. This study extensively explored the cell entry mechanism of the hybrid nanoprobes. The photophysical changes and the interaction between the negatively charged carbon dots and the positively charged nanospheres of the amphiphile were also analyzed in this study.

Graphical abstract: Rapid targeting and imaging of mitochondria via carbon dots using an amino acid-based amphiphile as a carrier

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 फरवरी 2024
Accepted
06 अप्रैल 2024
First published
11 अप्रैल 2024

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 9827-9835

Rapid targeting and imaging of mitochondria via carbon dots using an amino acid-based amphiphile as a carrier

N. Hazra, R. Ray and A. Banerjee, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 9827 DOI: 10.1039/D4NR00665H

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