Abstract
Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNs) have been of interest in applications such as biological imaging and sensing because of properties like low autofluorescence and negligible photobleaching. In this paper, a micellar encapsulation route was worked upon to make hydrophilic UCNs that are compatible with biological systems and enable conjugation of biomolecules. Phospholipid micelles cannot be easily synthesized with chemical recognition groups of biological interest so synthetic amphiphiles with suitable functional head groups were used to encapsulate and solubilize the hydrophobic UCNs. The encapsulated nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering. The micelle-encapsulated UCNs had an average diameter of 125 nm and the fluorescence emission at 540/660 nm of the bare UCNs did not show any shift after encapsulation. The cytotoxicity of the micelle-encapsulated UCNs was tested using lactose dehydrogenase/MTS (tetrazole salt) assays. The cell viability was estimated to be 80 % at the working concentration of the micelle-encapsulated UCNs. Finally, the micelle-encapsulated UCNs bearing Arg-Gly-Asp tripeptidic RGD surface functionalization were tested on cancer cells expressing integrins for specificity. The micelle-encapsulated UCNs were found to be suitable for cellular targeting and imaging.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdul Jalil, R., & Zhang, Y. (2008). Biocompatibility of silica coated NaYF4 upconversion fluorescent nanocrystals. Biomaterials, 29(30), 4122–4128.
Diamente, P. R., Burke, R. D., van Veggel, F. C. J. M. (2005). Bioconjugation of Ln3+-doped LaF3 nanoparticles to avidin. Langmuir, 22(4), 1782–1788. doi:10.1021/la052589r.
Sivakumar, S., van Veggel, F. C. J. M., Raudsepp, M. (2005). Bright white light through up-conversion of a single NIR source from Sol−Gel-derived thin film made with Ln3+-doped LaF3 nanoparticles. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 127(36), 12464–12465. doi:10.1021/ja052583o.
Boyer, J.-C., Vetrone, F., Cuccia, L. A., Capobianco, J. A. (2006). Synthesis of colloidal upconverting NaYF4 nanocrystals doped with Er3+, Yb3+ and Tm3+, Yb3+ via thermal decomposition of lanthanide trifluoroacetate precursors. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 128(23), 7444–7445. doi:10.1021/ja061848b.
Hewes, R. A., & Sarver, J. F. (1969). Infrared excitation processes for the visible luminescence of Er3+, Ho3+, and Tm3+ in Yb3 +-sensitized rare-earth trifluorides. Physical Review, 182(2), 427.
Wei, Y., Lu, F., Zhang, X., Chen, D. (2008). Polyol-mediated synthesis and luminescence of lanthanide-doped NaYF4 nanocrystal upconversion phosphors. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 455(1–2), 376–384.
Li, Z., Zhang, Y., Shuter, B., Muhammad Idris, N. (2009). Hybrid lanthanide nanoparticles with paramagnetic shell coated on upconversion fluorescent nanocrystals. Langmuir, 25(20), 12015–12018. doi:10.1021/la903113u.
Chatterjee, D. K., Rufaihah, A. J., Zhang, Y. (2008). Upconversion fluorescence imaging of cells and small animals using lanthanide doped nanocrystals. Biomaterials, 29(7), 937–943.
Idris, N. M., Li, Z., Ye, L., Wei Sim, E. K., Mahendran, R., Ho, P. C.-L., et al. (2009). Tracking transplanted cells in live animal using upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles. Biomaterials, 30(28), 5104–5113.
Wu, S., Han, G., Milliron, D. J., Aloni, S., Altoe, V., Talapin, D. V., et al. (2009). Non-blinking and photostable upconverted luminescence from single lanthanide-doped nanocrystals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(27), 10917–10921. doi:10.1073/pnas.0904792106.
Chatterjee, D. K., & Yong, Z. (2008). Upconverting nanoparticles as nanotransducers for photodynamic therapy in cancer cells. Nanomedicine, 3(1), 73–82. doi:10.2217/17435889.3.1.73.
Salthouse, C., Hilderbrand, S., Weissleder, R., Mahmood, U. (2008). Design and demonstration of a small-animal up-conversion imager. Optics Express, 16(26), 21731–21737.
Xiong, L.-Q., Chen, Z.-G., Yu, M.-X., Li, F.-Y., Liu, C., Huang, C.-H. (2009). Synthesis, characterization, and in vivo targeted imaging of amine-functionalized rare-earth up-converting nanophosphors. Biomaterials, 30(29), 5592–5600.
Rezwan, K., Meier, L. P., Gauckler, L. J. (2005). Lysozyme and bovine serum albumin adsorption on uncoated silica and AlOOH-coated silica particles: the influence of positively and negatively charged oxide surface coatings. Biomaterials, 26(21), 4351–4357. doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2004.11.017.
Dubertret, B., Skourides, P., Norris, D. J., Noireaux, V., Brivanlou, A. H., Libchaber, A. (2002). In vivo imaging of quantum dots encapsulated in phospholipid micelles. Science, 298(5599), 1759–1762. doi:10.1126/science.1077194.
Torchilin, V. P. (2004). Targeted polymeric micelles for delivery of poorly soluble drugs. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 61(19), 2549–2559.
Rapoport, N. (2004). Combined cancer therapy by micellar-encapsulated drug and ultrasound. International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 277(1–2), 155–162.
Nishiyama, N., Bae, Y., Miyata, K., Fukushima, S., Kataoka, K. (2005). Smart polymeric micelles for gene and drug delivery. Drug Discovery Today Technologies, 2(1), 21–26.
Ungun, B., Prud'homme, R. K., Budijon, S. J., Shan, J., Lim, S. F., Ju, Y., et al. (2009). Nanofabricated upconversion nanoparticles for photodynamic therapy. Optics Express, 17(1), 80–86.
Gindy, M. E., & Prud'homme, R. K. (2009). Multifunctional nanoparticles for imaging, delivery and targeting in cancer therapy. Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 6(8), 865–878. doi:10.1517/17425240902932908.
Hu, H., Yu, M., Li, F., Chen, Z., Gao, X., Xiong, L., et al. (2008). Facile epoxidation strategy for producing amphiphilic up-converting rare-earth nanophosphors as biological labels. Chemistry of Materials, 20(22), 7003–7009. doi:10.1021/cm801215t.
Roullier, V., Grasset, F., Boulmedais, F., Artzner, F., Cador, O., Vr, M.-A. (2008). Small bioactivated magnetic quantum dot micelles. Chemistry of Materials, 20(21), 6657–6665. doi:10.1021/cm801423r.
Boulmedais, F., Bauchat, P., Brienne, M. J., Arnal, I., Artzner, F., Gacoin, T., et al. (2006). Water-soluble pegylated quantum dots: from a composite hexagonal phase to isolated micelles. Langmuir, 22(23), 9797–9803. doi:10.1021/la061849h.
Amela-Cortes, M., Roullier, V., Wolpert, C., Neubauer, S., Kessler, H., Bedel, O., Mignani, S., Marchi-Artzner, V. (2011). Stable functionalized PEGylated quantum dots micelles with a controlled stoichiometry. Chemical Communications, 47, 1246–1248.
Reischl, D., & Zimmer, A. (2009). Drug delivery of siRNA therapeutics: potentials and limits of nanosystems. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine, 5(1), 8–20. doi:10.1016/j.nano.2008.06.001.
Hu, L., Mao, Z., Gao, C. (2009). Colloidal particles for cellular uptake and delivery. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 19(20), 3108–3115.
Liu, J., Bauer, H., Callahan, J., Kopecková, P., Pan, H., Kopecek, J. (2010). Endocytic uptake of a large array of HPMA copolymers: elucidation into the dependence on the physicochemical characteristics. Journal of Controlled Release, 143(1), 71–79. doi:10.1016/j.jconrel.2009.12.022.
Decristoforo, C., Faintuch-Linkowski, B., Rey, A., von Guggenberg, E., Rupprich, M., Hernandez-Gonzales, I., et al. (2006). [99mTc]HYNIC-RGD for imaging integrin alphavbeta3 expression. Nuclear Medicine and Biology, 33(8), 945–952.
Felding-Habermann, B., Fransvea, E., O'Toole, T., Manzuk, L., Faha, B., Hensler, M. (2002). Involvement of tumor cell integrin αvβ3 in hematogenous metastasis of human melanoma cells. Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 19(5), 427–436. doi:10.1023/a:1016377114119.
Hosotani, R., Kawaguchi, M., Masui, T., Koshiba, T., Ida, J., Fujimoto, K., et al. (2002). Expression of integrin [alpha]V[beta]3 in pancreatic carcinoma: relation to MMP-2 activation and lymph node metastasis. Pancreas, 25(2), e30–e35.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank National University of Singapore AcRF grants for the funding of this work and also the Merlion Fellowship 2007 funded by French Embassy in making the collaboration possible.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nagarajan, S., Roullier, V., Cortes, M.A. et al. Water-Soluble Upconversion Nanoparticles by Micellar Route. BioNanoSci. 3, 208–215 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-013-0087-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-013-0087-4