Analysis of cell-nanoparticle interactions and imaging of labeled cells showing barcorded endosomes using fluorescent thiol-organosilica nanoparticles surface-functionalized with polyethyleneimine.

Biomedical imaging using cell labeling is an important technique to visualize cell dynamics in the body. To label cells, thiol-organosilica nanoparticles (thiol-OS) containing fluorescein (thiol-OS/Flu) and rhodamine B (thiol-OS/Rho) were surface-functionalized with polyethyleneimine (PEI) (OS/Flu-PEI and OS/Rho-PEI) with 4 molecular weights (MWs). We hypothesized PEI structures such as brush, bent brush, bent lie-down, and coiled types on the surface depending on MWs based on dynamic light scattering and thermal gravimetric analyses.