TY - JOUR A1 - Cruz-Alonso, M. A1 - Fernandez, B. A1 - Alvarez, L. A1 - Gonzalez-Iglesias, H. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Pereiro, R. T1 - Bioimaging of metallothioneins in ocular tissue sections by laser ablation-ICP-MS using bioconjugated gold nanoclusters as specific tags N2 - An immunohistochemical method is described to visualize the distribution of metallothioneins 1/2 (MT 1/2) and metallothionein 3 (MT 3) in human ocular tissue. It is making use of (a) antibodies conjugated to gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) acting as labels, and (b) laser ablation (LA) coupled to inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Water-soluble fluorescent AuNCs (with an average size of 2.7 nm) were synthesized and then conjugated to antibody by carbodiimide coupling. The surface of the modified AuNCs was then blocked with hydroxylamine to avoid nonspecific interactions with biological tissue. Immunoassays for MT 1/2 and MT 3 in ocular tissue sections (5 μm thick) from two post mortem human donors were performed. Imaging studies were then performed by fluorescence using confocal microscopy, and LA-ICP-MS was performed in the retina to measure the signal for gold. Signal amplification by the >500 gold atoms in each nanocluster allowed the antigens (MT 1/2 and MT 3) to be imaged by LA-ICP-MS using a laser spot size as small as 4 μm. The image patterns found in retina are in good agreement with those obtained by conventional fluorescence immunohistochemistry which was used as an established reference method. KW - Nanocluster KW - Immunohistochemistry KW - Laser ablation KW - ICP-MS KW - Fluorescence KW - Bioimaging PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2597-1 SN - 1436-5073 SN - 0026-3672 VL - 185 IS - 1 SP - 64 EP - 72 PB - Springer CY - Vienna AN - OPUS4-44637 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grunert, B. A1 - Saatz, Jessica A1 - Hoffmann, Katrin A1 - Appler, F. A1 - Lubjuhn, Dominik A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Briel, A. T1 - Multifunctional rare-earth element nanocrystals for cell labeling and multimodal imaging N2 - In this work, we describe a simple solvothermal route for the synthesis of Eu3+-doped gadolinium orthovanadate nanocrystals (Eu:GdVO4−PAA) functionalized with poly(acrylic)acid (PAA), that are applicable as cell labeling probes for multimodal cellular imaging. The Eu3+ doping of the vanadate matrix provides optical functionality, due to red photoluminescence after illumination with UV light. The Gd3+ ions of the nanocrystals reduce the T1 relaxation time of surrounding water protons, allowing these nanocrystals to act as a positive MRI contrast agent with a r1 relaxivity of 1.97 mM−1 s−1. Low background levels of Eu3+, Gd3+, and V5+ in biological systems make them an excellent label for elemental microscopy by Laser Ablation (LA)-ICP-MS. Synthesis resulted in polycrystalline nanocrystals with a hydrodynamic diameter of 55 nm and a crystal size of 36.7 nm, which were further characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The multifunctional nanocrystals were subsequently used for intracellular labeling of both human adipose-derived stem cells (MSCs) and A549 (adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial) cells. KW - Bioimaging KW - Nanoparticle KW - Multimodal KW - Lanthanide PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.8b00495 SN - 2373-9878 VL - 4 IS - 10 SP - 3578 EP - 3587 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington, USA AN - OPUS4-46244 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -