Detection and imaging of fatty plaques in blood vessels using functionalized carbon dots

Abstract

Risk of developing atherosclerosis is proportional to blood cholesterol level which in turn eventually leads to heart attack. Since a large number of asymptomatic young people have evidence of atherosclerosis it is highly necessary to diagnose it at the earliest. This communication depicts a simple method to visualize cholesterol deposits using digitonin (DG) conjugated carbon dots (CDs). Physico chemical characterizations and preliminary blood compatibility evaluation of the functionalized CDs (CDDG) were successfully carried out. It is found that the probes could selectively bind cholesterol as evident from their ability to image cholesterol doped polymer films and tissues with heavy fatty plaques suspended in blood serum.An early visualization of cholesterol rich plaques using fluorescent nano probes reported here may aid in diagnosis of atherosclerosis and it seems that our finding may catalyze further developments in this imperative domain. The data emerged from the study also indicate that the novel probe can be used for the selective detection of cholesterol in solution.

Application of functionalized carbon dots in detection, diagnostic, disease treatment, and desalination: a review

“…They observed that the CDDG was capable of selective binding to cholesterol as they were evidently able to make images from cholesterol doped polymer films and tissues with heavy fatty plaques suspended in blood serum. Moreover, their obtained findings suggest that the CDDG is usable to selectively detect cholesterol in solution [73]. Sun et al have studied the detection of cholesterol by nanoprobe.…”