Duplex metal co-doped carbon quantum dots-based drug delivery system with intelligent adjustable size as adjuvant for synergistic cancer therapy

ZIF-based carbon dots with lysosome-Golgi transport property as visualization platform for deep tumour therapy via hierarchical size/charge dual-transform and transcytosis

“…The retention of pH-responsiveness can be attributed to the memory effects of CDs, which retained the main functional groups, structure, and physiological activities of their precursors. [68][69][70] Surprisingly, as shown in Fig. 2f and g, we found that the fluorescence of ZCD was stronger under acidic conditions, especially at pH 5.0, which is conductive to tumour imaging applications, and thus we could further monitor the penetration of ZCD through its enhanced fluorescence.…”

“…The retention of pHresponsiveness could be attributed to the memory effects of CDs, which retained the main functional groups, structure, and physiological activities of their precursors. [68][69][70] The retained pH-responsiveness ensured that ZCD could be transformed into small and neutral nanoparticles in the weak acidic condition ( pH 6.5) of tumours. Subsequently, the decomposed nanoparticles were endocytosed by lysosomes and had a second-order transformation in the more acidic environment ( pH 5.0), where their size became smaller and their charge reversed to positive, which enabled them to target the Golgi apparatus.…”

Targeted Delivery Methods for Anticancer Drugs

“…They possess low toxicity, high specific surface area, high photostability and are easily modified [162]. Carbon-based quantum dots are excellent carriers for anticancer drugs due to their biocompatibility, ease of manufacture, and lower environmental impact [163][164][165][166].…”

Regulation of multi-color fluorescence of carbonized polymer dots by multiple contributions of effective conjugate size, surface state, and molecular fluorescence

“…[2][3][4] With the in-depth studies of CDs, they have been widely applied in various fields such as bioimaging, drug delivery, biosensing, and photocatalysis. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] CDs refer to zero-dimensional (0D) carbonbased materials with dimensions below 10 nm. [12][13][14] Similar to other fluorescent nanomaterials, such as semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and noble metal nanoclusters, CDs possess interesting photoluminescence (PL) properties.…”