Ultra-small water-dispersible fluorescent chitosan nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization and specific targeting

摘要

A robust watcr-in-oil microemulsion method of making water-dispersible ultra-small ( < 30 nm) size fluorescent chitosan nanoparticles is reported for the first time and specific targeting of these FCNPs to human leukemia cells via aptamer recognition is demonstrated.rnIn recent years, there has been growing research interest in developing fluorescent nanoparticle (NP) based probes for various bioimaging applications such as diagnostic imaging of cancers labelling of stem cells and imaging of pathogenic cells. Fluorescent quantum dots (Qdots) and dye-loaded silica based NPs are extensively used in labelling cells and tissue specimens in vitro. These NP probes are photostable and highly sensitive that even allow real-time imaging of intracellular components.