Diamond Relaxometry as a Tool to Investigate the Free Radical Dialogue between Macrophages and Bacteria.

Although free radicals, which are generated by macrophages play a key role in antimicrobial activities, macrophages sometimes fail to kill () as bacteria have evolved mechanisms to withstand oxidative stress. In the past decades, several ROS-related staphylococcal proteins and enzymes were characterized to explain the microorganism's antioxidative defense system. Yet, time-resolved and site-specific free radical/ROS detection in bacterial infection were full of challenges.

Intracellular Quantum Sensing of Free-Radical Generation Induced by Acetaminophen (APAP) in the Cytosol, in Mitochondria and the Nucleus of Macrophages.

Acetaminophen overdoses cause cell injury in the liver. It is widely accepted that liver toxicity is initiated by the reactive -acetyl--aminophenol (APAP) metabolite -acetyl--benzoquinone imine (NAPQI), which first depletes glutathione and then irreversibly binds to mitochondrial proteins and nuclear DNA. As a consequence, mitochondrial respiration is inhibited, and DNA strands break.

Diamond-Based Nanoscale Quantum Relaxometry for Sensing Free Radical Production in Cells.

Diamond magnetometry makes use of fluorescent defects in diamonds to convert magnetic resonance signals into fluorescence. Because optical photons can be detected much more sensitively, this technique currently holds several sensitivity world records for room temperature magnetic measurements. It is orders of magnitude more sensitive than conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting magnetic resonances.

Functionalized Fluorescent Nanodiamonds for Simultaneous Drug Delivery and Quantum Sensing in HeLa Cells.

Here, we present multifunctional fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) for simultaneous drug delivery and free radical detection. For this purpose, we modified FNDs containing nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers with a diazoxide derivative. We found that our particles enter cells more easily and are able to deliver this cancer drug into HeLa cells.

Insight into a Fenton-like Reaction Using Nanodiamond Based Relaxometry.

Copper has several biological functions, but also some toxicity, as it can act as a catalyst for oxidative damage to tissues. This is especially relevant in the presence of HO, a by-product of oxygen metabolism. In this study, the reactions of copper with HO have been investigated with spectroscopic techniques.