Live Cell Imaging by Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Fluorescence to Study Trafficking of PLGA Nanoparticles and the Release of a Loaded Peptide in Dendritic Cells.

Our previous study demonstrated that a selected β-lactoglobulin-derived peptide (BLG-Pep) loaded in poly(lactic--glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles protected mice against cow's milk allergy development. However, the mechanism(s) responsible for the interaction of the peptide-loaded PLGA nanoparticles with dendritic cells (DCs) and their intracellular fate was/were elusive. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), a distance-dependent non-radioactive energy transfer process mediated from a donor to an acceptor fluorochrome, was used to investigate these processes.