Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
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Exploiting directed self-assembly and disassembly for off-to-on fluorescence responsive live cell imaging

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-04-19, 13:16 authored by Niamh Curtin, Massimiliano GarreMassimiliano Garre, Jean-Baptiste Bodin, Nicolas Solem, Rachel Méallet-Renault, Donal O'SheaDonal O'Shea
A bio-responsive nanoparticle was formed by the directed self-assembly (DSA) of a hydrophobic NIR-fluorophore with poloxamer P188. Fluorophore emission was switched off when part of the nanoparticle, however upon stimulus induced nanoparticle dis-assembly the emission switched on. The emission quenching was shown to be due to fluorophore hydration and aggregation within the nanoparticle and the turn on response attributable to nanoparticle disassembly with embedding of the fluorophore within lipophilic environments. This was exploited for temporal and spatial live cell imaging with a measurable fluorescence response seen upon intracellular delivery of the fluorophore. The first dynamic response, seen within minutes, was from lipid droplets with other lipophilic regions such as the endoplasmic reticulum, nuclear membranes and secretory vacuoles imageable after hours. The high degree of fluorophore photostability facilitated continuous imaging for extended periods and the off to on switching facilitated the real-time observation of lipid droplet biogenesis as they emerged from the endoplasmic reticulum. With an in-depth understanding of the principles involved, further assembly controlling functional responses could be anticipated.

Funding

Irish Government Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation's Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund and Science Foundation Ireland grant number AMBER 12/RC/2278 P2

RCSI Apjohn Fellowship

Science Foundation Ireland (18/RI/5723)

History

Comments

The original article is available at https://pubs.rsc.org/ Pre-print is available on ChemRxiv., https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-77rw1 and RCSI Repository https://hdl.handle.net/10779/rcsi.22665016.v1

Published Citation

Curtin N, Garre M, Bodin JB, Solem N, Méallet-Renault R, O'Shea DF. Exploiting directed self-assembly and disassembly for off-to-on fluorescence responsive live cell imaging. RSC Adv. 2022;12(55):35655-35665

Publication Date

13 December 2022

PubMed ID

36545082

Department/Unit

  • Chemistry

Research Area

  • Cancer
  • Surgical Science and Practice
  • Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

Version

  • Published Version (Version of Record)