Cathodic Electrochemiluminesence Microscopy for Imaging of Single Carbon Nanotube and Nucleolin at Single Tumor Cell.
Huairong ZhangYong LiuMei YaoWenxiu HanShusheng ZhangPublished in: Analytical chemistry (2023)
Cathodic electrochemiluminesence (ECL) microscopy based on luminol analog L012 was originally established to implement the imaging of a single nanotube and nucleolin on a single tumor cell. This microscopy utilizes multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as advanced coreactant accelerators to efficiently convert dissolved oxygen (O 2 ) and H 2 O 2 into reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to excellent electrocatalytic properties. The produced ROS could oxide L012 into an excited state of L012 leading to a bright cathodic ECL illumination, thereby promoting ECL imaging of MWCNTs at a low triggering potential. After being modified with AS1411 aptamers, MWCNTs@AS1411 probes were incubated with tumor cells for specific ECL imaging of nucleolin on the plasma membrane, which permits cathodic ECL microscopy for label-free bioassays without ECL tags. The L012-based cathodic ECL microscopy with a moderate operating potential and label-free characteristics provides a universal approach in single nanomaterial and single-cell imaging and analyses.
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