Merkl J.-P., Schmidtke C., Safi M., Muroski M., Alpers D., Tran H., Ostermann J., Kreuziger A.-M., Strouse G., Mattoussi H., Weller H.
University of Hamburg, DE
Keywords: carbohydrates, continuous flow reactor, diblock copolymer, glycopolymer, nanoparticles
Glyconanomaterials are of great interest for bio-imaging to understand biological processes, for instance metabolism, cell-cell or virus-cell interactions, gluconeogenesis, and cancer. Herein, we present a strategy for the biofunctionalization of fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) from continuous-flow reactor with carbohydrates. This flow reactor enables the reproducible synthesize of a large amount of QDs, with controlled surface functionalization. These QDs act as fluorescent biomarkers and as structural scaffolds for the presentation of glycoclusters to lectins, receptors and cells. The polymers are functionalized using copper catalyzed click huisgen addition and are subsequently used for the encapsulation of the QDs. Their binding to the HeLa cell line (cervical cancer) was characterized using confocal microscopy. Depending on the terminal group of the polymer (namely: D-maltose D-glucose, carboxyl, and amine), the uptake of the functionalized QDs can be controlled and directed. Although serum in known to inhibit the cellular response of artificial nanostructures, we observe reduced but significant cellular uptake of the maltose functionalized nanocontainer. Though this method relies on highly reproducible continuous flow systems, which yield high amounts of well defined, functional, non-toxic and highly stable nanoparticles this method has extraordinary industrial relevance.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 3, Biotech, Biomaterials and Biomedical: TechConnect Briefs 2015
Published: June 14, 2015
Pages: 78 - 81
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Medical & Biotech
Topics: Biomaterials, Cancer Nanotechnology
ISBN: 978-1-4987-4729-5