Issue 20, 2015

Fluorescent carbon dots from beer for breast cancer cell imaging and drug delivery

Abstract

We report the finding of the presence of fluorescent carbon dots in commercial beer and TEM analysis reveals that the beer carbon dots (BCDs) have an average size of 2.5 nm. The BCDs possessed high solubility and excellent fluorescence properties under the excitation of ultra-violet light with a quantum yield of approximately 7.39%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization demonstrated that the BCDs contain carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, three elements with the relative contents ca. 59.52%, 36.71% and 3.77%, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the BCDs are amorphous. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to characterize the surface groups of the BCDs. The BCDs showed excellent stability under different conditions (high ion strength, extreme pH and laser exposure). The cytotoxicity study revealed that there was no obvious inhibition of cell viability with a concentration as high as 12.5 mg mL−1 for 48 h, so that the BCDs could be directly applied in live cell imaging. Moreover, the BCDs could be used as efficient nanocarriers for the purpose of anticancer therapy. Doxorubicin-conjugated BCDs (BCD-DOX) induced prolonged cytotoxicity compared to free doxorubicin (DOX) due to the slow release of DOX from the BCD-DOX. The internalization of BCD-DOX by MCF-7 cells was further confirmed by using a laser scanning confocal microscope. All these results indicated that the BCDs present in beer have good biocompatibility and excellent fluorescence properties and may be considered as a safe material for bio-imaging and image-guided drug delivery in cancer therapy.

Graphical abstract: Fluorescent carbon dots from beer for breast cancer cell imaging and drug delivery

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 Jul 2015
Accepted
04 Sep 2015
First published
07 Sep 2015

Anal. Methods, 2015,7, 8911-8917

Fluorescent carbon dots from beer for breast cancer cell imaging and drug delivery

Z. Wang, H. Liao, H. Wu, B. Wang, H. Zhao and M. Tan, Anal. Methods, 2015, 7, 8911 DOI: 10.1039/C5AY01978H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements