Elucidating the cellular uptake mechanism of aptamer-functionalized graphene-isolated-Au-nanocrystals with dual-modal imaging

Shanshan Wang; Zhangkun Liu; Yuxiu Zou; Xiaofang Lai; Ding Ding; Long Chen; Liqin Zhang; Yuan Wu; Zhuo Chen; Weihong Tan

doi:10.1039/C6AN00483K

Elucidating the cellular uptake mechanism of aptamer-functionalized graphene-isolated-Au-nanocrystals with dual-modal imaging†

Shanshan Wang,‡^a Zhangkun Liu,‡^a Yuxiu Zou,^a Xiaofang Lai,^a Ding Ding,^a Long Chen,^b Liqin Zhang,^ac Yuan Wu,^a Zhuo Chen*^a and Weihong Tan*^ac

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* Corresponding authors

^a Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, China
E-mail: zhuochen@hnu.edu.cn, tan@chem.ufl.edu

^b Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Macau, Av. Padre Tomas Pereira Taipa, Macau, China

^c Center for Research at Bio/Nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Shands Cancer Center, UF Genetics Institute and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA

Abstract

Elucidating the endocytosis and metabolism of nanoparticles in cells could improve the diagnostic sensitivity and therapeutic efficiency. In this work, we explore the cellular uptake mechanism of a biocompatible nanocrystal nanostructure, graphene-isolated-Au-nanocrystals (GIANs), by monitoring the intrinsic Raman and two-photon luminescence signals of GIANs in live cells. Aptamers functionalized on the GIAN nanostructure through simple, but strong, π–π interactions entered the cells through a clathrin-dependent pathway, while unmodified GIANs mainly entered the cells through a caveolae-mediated endocytosis pathway. Thus, it can be concluded that the mechanism of cellular uptake in these graphene-isolated-Au-nanocrystal nanostructures is determined by the presence or absence of aptamer modification.

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Elucidating the cellular uptake mechanism of aptamer-functionalized graphene-isolated-Au-nanocrystals with dual-modal imaging†

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Elucidating the cellular uptake mechanism of aptamer-functionalized graphene-isolated-Au-nanocrystals with dual-modal imaging

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