Multifunctional Lipid/Quantum Dot Hybrid Nanocontainers for Controlled Targeting of Live Cells

Abstract

Hydrophobe Quantenpunkte können in die Doppelschichtmembran von Lipidvesikeln eingeschlossen und von dort selektiv in Plasmamembranen oder in das Cytoplasma lebender Zellen freigesetzt werden (siehe Bild). Die Zell‐ und Lipidmembranen können jede Art von hydrophoben Nanopartikeln einschließen, deren Größe mit der Membrandicke übereinstimmt, was Möglichkeiten für Einzelzellanwendungen in der Nanobiotechnologie bietet.

Applications of phototheranostic nanoagents in photodynamic therapy

“…In addition to serving as scaffold for other agents, they are capable of being imaged without the need for a specific imaging agent [76][77][78][79][80]. However, the higher level of toxicity is an issue that needs to be considered in using quantum dots in biomedical applications.…”

Nanoparticles for Combined Cancer Imaging and Therapy

“…They are composed of groups II-VI (e.g., CdSe) or III-V (e.g., InP) materials. Semiconductor nanocrystals known as QDs have been increasingly utilized as biological imaging and labeling probes because of their unique optical properties, including broad absorption with narrow photoluminescence spectra (ability to use multicolor QDs to image multiple targets), high quantum yield (makes them bright under photon-limited conditions in vivo), low photobleaching (well suited for continuous live cell imaging or tracking), and resistance to chemical degradation [118][119][120][121]. For biological applications, QDs have to be water dispersible over a broad pH range and ionic strengths.…”

“…To explore this, we have reported a simple proof-of-concept of QD-aptamer (QD-Apt) conjugate that can image and deliver anticancer drugs to PCa cells and sense the delivery of drugs to the targeted tumor cells based on the mechanism of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) phenomena occurring between two fluorophores, in this case Dox (flourescent anticancer drug) and QDs (Fig. 23.5a) [118][119][120][121]. A10 RNA aptamers that served as targeting (specific for PSMA antigen overexpressed on prostate cancer cells) and drug (Dox) carrying molecules (Dox can intercalate into double-stranded CG sequences of RNA and DNA) were conjugated to the surface of QDs.…”

Quantum Dot Labeling for Assessment of Intracellular Trafficking of Therapeutically Active Molecules

“…QDs have also been encapsulated in the lipid bilayer obtained from DMPC : DOTAP : DSPE -PEG lipids without loss of fl uorescence [115] . In another case, PEGylated QDs have been encapsulated in lipid vesicles with different lipid concentration to maximize the encapsulation effi cacy [116] .…”