Detection of Single Photoluminescent Diamond Nanoparticles in Cells and Study of the Internalization Pathway

Diamond nanoparticles are promising photoluminescent probes for tracking intracellular processes, due to embedded, perfectly photostable color centers. In this work, the spontaneous internalization of such nanoparticles (diameter 25 nm) in HeLa cancer cells is investigated by confocal microscopy and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2008-12, Vol.4 (12), p.2236-2239
Main Authors: Faklaris, Orestis, Garrot, Damien, Joshi, Vandana, Druon, Frédéric, Boudou, Jean‐Paul, Sauvage, Thierry, Georges, Patrick, Curmi, Patrick A., Treussart, François
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
biomarkers
cytotoxicity
diamond
Diamond - chemistry
Endosomes - metabolism
Fluorescent Antibody Technique
HeLa Cells
Humans
Luminescence
nanoparticles
Nanoparticles - analysis
Nanoparticles - chemistry
Photochemistry
photoluminescence
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Summary:Diamond nanoparticles are promising photoluminescent probes for tracking intracellular processes, due to embedded, perfectly photostable color centers. In this work, the spontaneous internalization of such nanoparticles (diameter 25 nm) in HeLa cancer cells is investigated by confocal microscopy and time‐resolved techniques. Nanoparticles are observed inside the cell cytoplasm at the single‐particle and single‐color‐center level, assessed by time‐correlation intensity measurements. Improvement of the nanoparticle signal‐to‐noise ratio inside the cell is achieved using a pulsed‐excitation laser and time‐resolved detection taking advantage of the long radiative lifetime of the color‐center excited state as compared to cell autofluorescence. The internalization pathways are also investigated, with endosomal marking and colocalization analyses. The low colocalization ratio observed proves that nanodiamonds are not trapped in endosomes, a promising result in prospect of drug delivery by these nanoparticles. Low cytotoxicity of these nanoparticles in this cell line is also shown. Diamond nanoparticles are promising photoluminescent probes for tracking intracellular processes, due to embedded, perfectly photostable color centers. The spontaneous internalization process of such nanoparticles (diameter 25 nm) in HeLa cancer cells is investigated by confocal microscopy and time‐resolved techniques. The preliminary conclusion is that nanodiamonds are not trapped in endosomes (low colocalisation fraction, marked by yellow arrow on the figure).
ISSN:1613-6810
1613-6829
DOI:10.1002/smll.200800655