The Soft Nano Dots as Fluorescent Probes for Cell Imaging: Analysis of Cell and Spheroid Penetration Behavior of Single Chain Polymer Dots.

This study describes the formation, size control and penetration behavior of polymer nano dots (Pdots) consisting of single or few chain polythiophene based conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) via nanophase separation between good solvent and poor solvent of CPE. Though the chain singularity may be associated with dilution nanophase separation suggests that molecules of a good solvent create a thermodynamically driven solvation layer surrounding the CPEs and thereby separating the single chains even in their poor solvents. This statement is therefore corroborated with emission intensity/lifetime, particle size, and scattering intensity of polyelectrolyte in good and poor solvents. Regarding the augmented features, Pdots are implemented into cell imaging studies to understand the nuclear penetration and to differentiate the invasive characteristics of breast cancer cells. The python based RGB imaging depicts that Pdots have more nuclear penetration ability in triple negative breast cancer cells due to the different nuclear morphology in shape and composition and have penetrated cell membrane as well as extracellular matrix in spheroid models. The current Pdot protocol and its utilization in cancer cell imaging are holding great promise for gene/drug delivery to target cancer cells by explicitly achieving the very first priority of nuclear intake. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.