Porphyrin-magnetite nanoconjugates for biological imaging

Nowostawska, M., Corr, S.A., Byrne, S.J., Conroy, J., Volkov, Y. and Gun'ko, Y.K. (2011) Porphyrin-magnetite nanoconjugates for biological imaging. Journal of Nanobiotechnology, 9(13), (doi: 10.1186/1477-3155-9-13)

Abstract

<p>Background: The use of silica coated magnetic nanoparticles as contrast agents has resulted in the production of highly stable, non-toxic solutions that can be manipulated via an external magnetic field. As a result, the interaction of these nanocomposites with cells is of vital importance in understanding their behaviour and biocompatibility. Here we report the preparation, characterisation and potential application of new “two-in-one” magnetic fluorescent nanocomposites composed of silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles covalently linked to a porphyrin moiety.</p> <p>Method: The experiments were performed by administering porphyrin functionalised silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles to THP-1 cells, a human acute monocytic leukaemia cell line. Cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium with 25 mM HEPES supplemented with heat-inactivated foetal bovine serum (FBS).</p> <p>Results: We have synthesised, characterised and analysed in vitro, a new multimodal (magnetic and fluorescent) porphyrin magnetic nanoparticle composite (PMNC). Initial co-incubation experiments performed with THP-1 macrophage cells were promising; however the PMNC photobleached under confocal microscopy study. bmercaptoethanol (b-ME) was employed to counteract this problem and resulted not only in enhanced fluorescence emission, but also allowed for elongated imaging and increased exposure times of the PMNC in a cellular environment.</p> <p>Conclusion: Our experiments have demonstrated that b-ME visibly enhances the emission intensity. No deleterious effects to the cells were witnessed upon co-incubation with b-ME alone and no increases in background fluorescence were recorded. These results should present an interest for further development of in vitro biological imaging techniques.</p>

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Corr, Professor Serena
• Authors: Nowostawska, M., Corr, S.A., Byrne, S.J., Conroy, J., Volkov, Y., and Gun'ko, Y.K.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
• Journal Name: Journal of Nanobiotechnology
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• ISSN: 1477-3155
• ISSN (Online): 1477-3155
• Published Online: 08 April 2011
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2011 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Journal of Nanobiotechnology 9:13
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License