Cellular Delivery Modalities for Semiconductor Quantum Dots: A Comparative Analysis

摘要

Semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) have been demonstrated to be superior alternatives to traditional fluorophores (dyes and fluorescent proteins) due to their size-tunable photoluminescence, nanoscale size which produces a high surface area to volume ratio, broad excitation profiles coupled with narrow emission spectra and resistance to photobleaching. The development of delivery modalities to introduce these nanoscale probes to discrete cellular locations with control continues to be an active area of research. These methods can range from passive uptake to facilitated delivery (using bioactive ligands such as peptides) to active manipulation of the cell (microinjection). Each of these methods comes with inherent advantages and liabilities. Here, we have conducted a comparative study utilizing these various cellular delivery strategies to illustrate how a particular labeling/imaging application can be enabled and/or enhanced by choosing the optimal delivery strategy.