Directly observing intracellular nanoparticle formation with nanocomputed tomography.
Miaomiao ZhangYong GuanZheng DangPinggen ZhangZhen ZhengLiang ChenWen KuangChenchen WangGaolin LiangPublished in: Science advances (2020)
Directly observing intracellular nanostructure formation remains challenging. In this work, using a rationally designed small-molecule 4-nitrobenzyl carbamate-Cys(SEt)-Asp-Asp-Phe(iodine)-2-cyano-benzothiazole (NBC-Iod-CBT), we directly observed intracellular nanoparticle formation with nanocomputed tomography (nano-CT). In vitro, upon glutathione reduction and nitroreductase (NTR) cleavage, NBC-Iod-CBT undergoes a CBT-Cys click condensation reaction to self-assemble nanoparticles Iod-CBT-NPs with an average linear absorption coefficient (LAC) value of 0.182 ± 0.078 μm-1 to x-ray. Nano-CT imaging of the NBC-Iod-CBT-treated, NTR-overexpressing HeLa cells showed the existence of Iod-CBT-NPs in their cytoplasm with an average LAC value of 0.172 ± 0.032 μm-1 We anticipate that our strategy could help people to deeply understand the formation mechanism of intracellular nanostructures in the near future.
Keyphrases
- dual energy
- small molecule
- reactive oxygen species
- computed tomography
- high resolution
- image quality
- induced apoptosis
- cell cycle arrest
- contrast enhanced
- magnetic resonance
- positron emission tomography
- cell death
- oxidative stress
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- signaling pathway
- current status
- photodynamic therapy
- cell proliferation
- neural network