TY - JOUR
T1 - Hydrothermal synthesis of highly luminescent blue-emitting ZnSe(S) quantum dots exhibiting low toxicity
AU - Mirnajafizadeh, Fatemeh
AU - Ramsey, Deborah
AU - McAlpine, Shelli
AU - Wang, Fan
AU - Reece, Peter
AU - Stride, John Arron
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - Highly luminescent quantum dots (QDs) that emit in the visible spectrum are of interest to a number of imaging technologies, not least that of biological samples. One issue that hinders the application of luminescent markers in biology is the potential toxicity of the fluorophore. Here we show that hydrothermally synthesized ZnSe(S) QDs have low cytotoxicity to both human colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT-116) and human skin fibroblast cells (WS1). The QDs exhibited a high degree of crystallinity, with a strong blue photoluminescence at up to 29% quantum yield relative to 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) without post-synthetic UV-irradiation. Confocal microscopy images obtained of HCT-116 cells after incubation with the QDs highlighted the stability of the particles in cell media. Cytotoxicity studies showed that both HCT-116 and WS1 cells retain 100% viability after treatment with the QDs at concentrations up to 0.5 g/L, which makes them of potential use in biological imaging applications.
AB - Highly luminescent quantum dots (QDs) that emit in the visible spectrum are of interest to a number of imaging technologies, not least that of biological samples. One issue that hinders the application of luminescent markers in biology is the potential toxicity of the fluorophore. Here we show that hydrothermally synthesized ZnSe(S) QDs have low cytotoxicity to both human colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT-116) and human skin fibroblast cells (WS1). The QDs exhibited a high degree of crystallinity, with a strong blue photoluminescence at up to 29% quantum yield relative to 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) without post-synthetic UV-irradiation. Confocal microscopy images obtained of HCT-116 cells after incubation with the QDs highlighted the stability of the particles in cell media. Cytotoxicity studies showed that both HCT-116 and WS1 cells retain 100% viability after treatment with the QDs at concentrations up to 0.5 g/L, which makes them of potential use in biological imaging applications.
KW - Aqueous synthesis
KW - Cell lines
KW - Quantum dot cytotoxicity
KW - Water dispersible quantum dots
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962195830&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.msec.2016.03.061
DO - 10.1016/j.msec.2016.03.061
M3 - Article
C2 - 27127041
AN - SCOPUS:84962195830
SN - 0928-4931
VL - 64
SP - 167
EP - 172
JO - Materials Science and Engineering C
JF - Materials Science and Engineering C
ER -