TY - JOUR A1 - Srivastava, Priyanka A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Scholtz, Lena A1 - Genger, C. A1 - Welker, P. A1 - Schreiber, Frank A1 - Meyer, Klas A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Dual color pH probes made from silica and polystyrene nanoparticles and their performance in cell studies JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Ratiometric green–red fluorescent nanosensors for fluorometrically monitoring pH in the acidic range were designed from 80 nm-sized polystyrene (PS) and silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs), red emissive reference dyes, and a green emissive naphthalimide pH probe, analytically and spectroscopically characterized, and compared regarding their sensing performance in aqueous dispersion and in cellular uptake studies. Preparation of these optical probes, which are excitable by 405 nm laser or LED light sources, involved the encapsulation of the pH-inert red-fuorescent dye Nile Red (NR) in the core of self-made carboxylated PSNPs by a simple swelling procedure and the fabrication of rhodamine B (RhB)-stained SiO2-NPs from a silane derivative of pH-insensitive RhB. Subsequently, the custom-made naphthalimide pH probe, that utilizes a protonation-controlled photoinduced electron transfer process, was covalently attached to the carboxylic acid groups at the surface of both types of NPs. Fluorescence microscopy studies with the molecular and nanoscale optical probes and A549 lung cancer cells confirmed the cellular uptake of all probes and their penetration into acidic cell compartments, i.e., the lysosomes, indicated by the switching ON of the green naphthalimide fluorescence. This underlines their suitability for intracellular pH sensing, with the SiO2-based nanosensor revealing the best performance regarding uptake speed and stability. KW - Sensors KW - Silica and polystyrene nanoparticles KW - pH probe KW - Fluorescence spectroscopy KW - Cell studies KW - Dye KW - Particle synthesis PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-569198 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-28203-0 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 13 IS - 1 SP - 1321 EP - 1336 PB - Nature CY - London AN - OPUS4-56919 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Tavernaro, Isabella A1 - Nirmalananthan-Budau, Nithiya A1 - Scholtz, Lena A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Development of multimodal methods to quantify the total and accessible number of functional groups and ligands on nanomaterials N2 - Engineered and tailored nanomaterials (NM) are of great interest in the life and material sciences, as they can be used, e.g., as drug carriers, barcodes, fluorescent sensors, and multimodal labels in bioanalytical assays and imaging applications. Their performance and safety depend not only on their particle size, size distribution, and morphology, but also on their surface chemistry, i.e., the total number of surface functional groups (FG) and the number of FG accessible for subsequent functionalization with ligands or biomolecules, which in turn determines surface charge, colloidal stability, biocompatibility, and toxicity. It also underlines the importance of validated analytical methods that provide accurate information on these application-relevant physicochemical properties with a known uncertainty. In the case of FG quantification, this calls for robust, fast, inexpensive, and reliable methods which allow for the characterization of a broad variety of NM differing in size, chemical composition, and optical properties. Methods Aiming at the development of simple, versatile, and multimodal tools for the quantification of bioanalytically relevant FG such as amine, carboxy, thiol, and aldehyde functionalities, we investigated and compared various analytical methods commonly used for FG quantification. This includes electrochemical titration methods, dye-based optical assays, and other instrumental analytical techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass spectrometry (MS), and thermal analysis methods. Results Here, we will present examples for different types of NMs and FGs including results from a currently running interlaboratory comparison (ILC) with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to pave the road for method standardization. Innovative aspects • Surface analysis • Performance and safety of nanomaterials • Standardization T2 - ANAKON 2023 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 11.04.2023 KW - Engineered Nanomaterials KW - Surface group analysis KW - Optical spectroscopy KW - Quantitative NMR KW - Ligands KW - Dye KW - Particle synthesis KW - Optical Assays KW - Titration KW - Safe-by-Design KW - Nano KW - Nanosafety KW - Silica- and Polystyrene Particles PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-59127 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -