Aptamer-Conjugated Tb(III)-Doped Silica Nanoparticles for Luminescent Detection of Leukemia Cells.

DNA aptamers have many benefits for cell imaging, such as high affinity and specificity, easiness of chemical functionalization, and low cost of production. Among known aptamers, Sgc8-aptamer was selected against acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells with a dissociation constant in a nanomolar range. The aptamer was previously used for the covalent coupling with fluorescent and magnetic nanoparticles, as well as for the fabrication of aptamer-based biosensors.

Silica nanoparticles with Tb(III)-centered luminescence decorated by Ag as efficient cellular contrast agent with anticancer effect.

The present work introduces composite luminescent nanoparticles (Ag-Tb-SNs), where ultra-small nanosilver (4 ± 2 nm) is deposited onto amino-modified silica nanoparticles (35±6 nm) doped by green luminescent Tb(III) complexes. Ag-Tb-SNs are able to image cancer (Hep-2) cells in confocal microscopy measurements due to efficient cell internalization, which is confirmed by TEM images of the Hep-2 cells exposed by Ag-Tb-SNs. Comparative analysis of the cytotoxicity of normal fibroblasts (DK-4) and cancer cells (Hep-2) incubated with various concentrations of Ag-Tb-SNs revealed the concentration range where the toxic effect on the cancer cells is significant, while it is insignificant towards the nonmalignant fibroblasts cells.

Tuning the non-covalent confinement of Gd(III) complexes in silica nanoparticles for high T-weighted MR imaging capability.

The present work introduces deliberate synthesis of Gd(III)-doped silica nanoparticles with high relaxivity at magnetic field strengths below 1.5T. Modified microemulsion water-in-oil procedure was used in order to achieve superficial localization of Gd(III) complexes within 40-55nm sized silica spheres.