Tuyển tập báo cáo các nghiên cứu khoa học quốc tế ngành y học dành cho các bạn tham khảo đề tài: Folic acid modified gelatine coated quantum dots as potential reagents for in vitro cancer diagnostics | Gérard et al. Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2011 9 50 http content 9 1 50 JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH Open Access Folic acid modified gelatine coated quantum dots as potential reagents for in vitro cancer diagnostics Valérie A Gérard 1 Ciaran M Maguire1 Despina Bazou2 and Yurii K Gun ko1 Abstract Background Gelatine coating was previously shown to effectively reduce the cytotoxicity of CdTe Quantum Dots QDs which was a first step towards utilising them for biomedical applications. To be useful they also need to be target-specific which can be achieved by conjugating them with Folic Acid FA . Results The modification of QDs with FA via an original one-pot synthetic route was proved successful by a range of characterisation techniques including UV-visible absorption spectroscopy Photoluminescence PL emission spectroscopy fluorescence life-time measurements Transmission Electron Microscopy TEM and Dynamic Light Scattering DLS . The resulting nanocomposites were tested in Caco-2 cell cultures which over-express FA receptors. The presence of FA on the surface of QDs significantly improved the uptake by targeted cells. Conclusions The modification with folic acid enabled to achieve a significant cellular uptake and cytotoxicity towards a selected cancer cell lines Caco-2 of gelatine-coated TGA-CdTe quantum dots which demonstrated good potential for in vitro cancer diagnostics. Keywords Quantum Dots Folic acid cancer bio-imaging Background Nanoparticles and especially quantum dots QDs have attracted much interest in recent years as potential diagnostics and drug delivery tools 1-3 . Thiol-stabilised CdTe semiconducting nanoparticles or quantum dots QDs present the particular advantage of being watersoluble and easy to functionalise 4 5 . In addition it has been shown that protective coatings such as gelatine may provide substantial improvement of their luminescence efficiency and biocompatibility 6 7 . They are therefore attractive for
