ac9b05820_si_001.pdf (825.04 kB)
NIR Remote-Controlled “Lock–Unlock” Nanosystem for Imaging Potassium Ions in Living Cells
journal contribution
posted on 2020-02-25, 22:04 authored by Mei-Rong Cui, Li-Xian Chen, Xiang-Ling Li, Jing-Juan Xu, Hong-Yuan ChenDespite great achievements in sensitive
and selective detection
of important biomolecules in living cells, it is still challenging
to develop smart and controllable sensing nanodevices for cellular
studies that can be activated at desired time in target sites. To
address this issue, we have constructed a remote-controlled “lock–unlock”
nanosystem for visual analysis of endogenous potassium ions (K+), which employed a dual-stranded aptamer precursor (DSAP)
as recognition molecules, SiO2 based gold nanoshells (AuNS)
as nanocarriers, and near-infrared ray (NIR) as the remotely applied
stimulus. With the well-designed and activatable DSAP-AuNS, the deficiencies
of traditional aptamer-based sensors have been successfully overcome,
and the undesired response during transport has been avoided, especially
in complex physiological microenvironments. While triggered by NIR,
the increased local temperature of AuNS induced the dehybridiztion
of DSAP, realized the “lock–unlock” switch of
the DSAP-AuNS nanosystem, activated the binding capability of aptamer,
and then monitored intracellular K+ via the change of fluorescence
signal. This DSAP-AuNS nanosystem not only allows us to visualize
endogenous ions in living cells at a desired time but also paves the
way for fabricating temporal controllable nanodevices for cellular
studies.