Intracellular pH is a key parameter in many biological mechanisms and cell metabolism and is used to detect and monitor cancer formation and brain or heart diseases. pH-sensing is typically performed by fluorescence microscopy using pH-responsive dyes. Accuracy is limited by the need for quantifying the absolute emission intensity in living biological samples. An alternative with a higher sensitivity and precision uses probes with a ratiometric response arising from the different pH-sensitivity of two emission channels of a single emitter. Current ratiometric probes are complex constructs suffering from instability and cross-readout due to their broad emission spectra. Here, we overcome such limitations using a single-particle ratiometric pH probe based on dot-in-bulk CdSe/CdS nanocrystals (NCs). These nanostructures feature two fully-separated narrow emissions with different pH sensitivity arising from radiative recombination of core- and shell-localized excitons. The core emission is nearly independent of the pH, whereas the shell luminescence increases in the 3-11 pH range, resulting in a cross-readout-free ratiometric response as strong as 600%. In vitro microscopy demonstrates that the ratiometric response in biologic media resembles the precalibralation curve obtained through far-field titration experiments. The NCs show good biocompatibility, enabling us to monitor in real-time the pH in living cells
Bruni, F., Pedrini, J., Bossio, C., Santiago Gonzalez, B., Meinardi, F., Bae, W., et al. (2017). Two-Color Emitting Colloidal Nanocrystals as Single-Particle Ratiometric Probes of Intracellular pH. ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, 27(12), 1605533.
Citazione: | Bruni, F., Pedrini, J., Bossio, C., Santiago Gonzalez, B., Meinardi, F., Bae, W., et al. (2017). Two-Color Emitting Colloidal Nanocrystals as Single-Particle Ratiometric Probes of Intracellular pH. ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, 27(12), 1605533. | |
Tipo: | Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico | |
Carattere della pubblicazione: | Scientifica | |
Presenza di un coautore afferente ad Istituzioni straniere: | Si | |
Titolo: | Two-Color Emitting Colloidal Nanocrystals as Single-Particle Ratiometric Probes of Intracellular pH | |
Autori: | Bruni, F; Pedrini, J; Bossio, C; Santiago Gonzalez, B; Meinardi, F; Bae, W; Klimov, V; Lanzani, G; Brovelli, S | |
Autori: | BRUNI, FRANCESCO (Primo) PEDRINI, JACOPO (Secondo) BROVELLI, SERGIO (Ultimo) | |
Data di pubblicazione: | 2017 | |
Lingua: | English | |
Rivista: | ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201605533 | |
Appare nelle tipologie: | 01 - Articolo su rivista |
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