Synthesis of Renal-Clearable Multicolor Fluorescent Silicon Nanodots for Tumor Imaging and In Vivo H₂O₂ Profiling

Abstract

Fluorescent silicon nanodots have shown great prospects for bioimaging and biosensing applications. Although various fluorescent silicon-containing nanodots (SiNDs) have been developed, there are few reports about renal-clearable multicolor SiNDs. Herein, renal-clearable multicolor fluorescent SiNDs are synthesized by using silane molecules and organic dyes through a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The fluorescence of the resulting SiNDs can be tuned to blue (bSiNDs), green (gSiNDs), and red (rSiNDs) by simply changing the categories of silane reagents or dye molecules. The as-prepared SiNDs exhibit strong fluorescence with a quantum yield up to 72%, excellent photostability, and good biocompatibility with 12 h renal clearance rate as high as 86% ID. These properties enabled the SiNDs for tumor fluorescence imaging and H 2 O 2 imaging in living cells and tissue through in situ reduction reactionlighted fluorescence of the nanoprobe. Our results provide an invaluable methodology for the synthesis of renal-clearable multicolor SiNDs and their potential applications for fluorescence imaging and biomarker sensing. These SiNDs are also promising for various biological and biomedical applications.

Recent Updates on Functionalized Silicon Quantum-Dot-Based Nanoagents for Biomedical Applications

“…A number of studies on the cytotoxicity of Si QDs have demonstrated their low toxicity. , Toxicity assessments taken in Caenorhabditis elegans models verified that Si QDs could not affect their longevity or reproductivity in the short term, suggesting that Si QDs have negligible in vivo toxicity to Caenorhabditis elegans . In 2022, Jiang et al validated that Si QDs with a small average size (less than 3.4 nm) are a renal-clearable nanomaterial possessing low potential systemic toxicity . The renal clearance of the obtained Si QDs exceeded 75% ID within 12 h, providing high biosafety of Si QDs for biomedical applications.…”

“…22 In 2022, Jiang et al validated that Si QDs with a small average size (less than 3.4 nm) are a renal-clearable nanomaterial possessing low potential systemic toxicity. 44 The renal clearance of the obtained Si QDs exceeded 75% ID within 12 h, providing high biosafety of Si QDs for biomedical applications. However, different surface features can induce discrepancies in cytotoxicity and biodistribution to Si QDs.…”

Emerging ultrasmall luminescent nanoprobes forin vivobioimaging

“…17,25 Recently, several ultrasmall luminescent nanomaterials have been tailored for in vivo PL imaging, such as quantum dots (QDs), metal nanoclusters (NCs), lanthanide-doped NPs, and silicon NPs. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32] The developed ultrasmall nanoprobes have been implemented to analyze in vivo diseases -especially cancer-associated hallmarks, such as ions, small molecules, nucleic acids, proteins and enzymes. As such, it is anticipated that the ultrasmall luminescent nanoprobes will serve as potent PL imaging tools and provide a solution to in vivo imaging.…”

Cell-Derived N/P/S-Codoped Fluorescent Carbon Nanodots with Intrinsic Targeting Ability for Tumor-Specific Phototheranostics

“…This approach, if applicable, could initiate the therapeutic process only within tumor sites instead of other normal ones, hopefully leading to the concurrent of high curative outcome and ignorable side effect. In recent years, biomolecule-derived CNDs, such as folate, bacteria, and hemoglobin, have exhibited specific targeting ability or affinity for some cells or organs. − In particular, cancer cell membrane-camouflaged nanoparticles are endowed with immune escaping and homologous targeting ability. − Taking the rich element composition and excellent homologous targeting ability into consideration, cancer cells may be a favorable carbon source for the preparation of N/S/P-codoped CNDs with both PTT/PDT synergistic therapy and targeting capabilities as well as imaging ability.…”