Journal
ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS
Volume 2, Issue 2, Pages 352-360Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201200210
Keywords
-
Funding
- National Science Fund of China [50830106, 21174126]
- National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars [51025312]
- National Basic Research Program of China [2011CB606203]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2009QNA4039]
- Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials [SKLSSM200911]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Facile surface modification of quantum dots (QDs) to make them water-soluble, small, stable, antibiofouling, and functional is crucial for their biological applications. This study demonstrates a simple ligand-exchange reaction to convert hydrophobic CdSe/ZnS QDs into water-soluble QDs using amphiphilic, zwitterionic 11-mercaptoundecylphosphorylcholine (HS-PC). The phosphorylcholine (PC)-modified QDs (QD-PC) possess several advantages, such as small hydrodynamic diameter, good resistance to pH variations and high salinity, excellent stabiliy in 100% human plasma, and low protein adsorption. Importantly, the PC modification endows the QDs with very low, nonspecific interaction with cells, and strongly minimizes nonspecific phagocytosis of QDs by macrophages. In addition, cell penetrating Tat peptide functionalized QDs can be easily produced by mixing Tat with HS-PC with various ratios, which is proved to effectively enhance QD ability to enter cells and accumulate around perinuclear region. Compared to traditional mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) modification, PC modification not only makes the cell penetrating QDs more stable and brighter, but also provides the Tat-and PC-conjugated QDs with much lower nonspecific phagocytic uptake than the Tat-and MUA-conjugated ones. This research will provide insights into designing suitable ligands for surface modification of QDs and improving biofunctional QD performance in biological applications.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available