91 research outputs found
Strong exciton-photon coupling with colloidal quantum dots in a tuneable microcavity
Polariton emission from optical cavities integrated with various luminophores
has been extensively studied recently due to the wide variety of possible
applications in photonics, particularly promising in terms of fabrication of
low-threshold sources of coherent emission. Tuneable microcavities allow
extensive investigation of the photophysical properties of matter placed inside
the cavity by deterministically changing the coupling strength and controllable
switching from weak to strong and ultra-strong coupling regimes. Here we
demonstrate room temperature strong coupling of exciton transitions in
CdSe/ZnS/CdS/ZnS colloidal quantum dots with the optical modes of a tuneable
low-mode-volume microcavity. Strong coupling is evidenced by a large Rabi
splitting of the photoluminescence spectra depending on the detuning of the
microcavity. A coupling strength of 154 meV has been achieved. High quantum
yields, excellent photostability, and scalability of fabrication of QDs paves
the way to practical applications of coupled systems based on colloidal QDs in
photonics, optoelectronics, and sensing.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
Nanoparticles With a Specific Size and Surface Charge Promote Disruption of the Secondary Structure and Amyloid-Like Fibrillation of Human Insulin Under Physiological Conditions
Nanoparticles attract much interest as fluorescent labels for diagnostic and therapeutic tools, although their applications are often hindered by size- and shape-dependent cytotoxicity. This cytotoxicity is related not only to the leak of toxic metals from nanoparticles into a biological solution, but also to molecular cytotoxicity effects determined by the formation of a protein corona, appearance of an altered protein conformation leading to exposure of cryptic epitopes and cooperative effects involved in the interaction of proteins and peptides with nanoparticles. In the last case, nanoparticles may serve, depending on their nature, as centers of self-association or fibrillation of proteins and peptides, provoking amyloid-like proteinopathies, or as inhibitors of self-association of proteins, or they can self-assemble on biopolymers as on templates. In this study, human insulin protein was used to analyze nanoparticle-induced proteinopathy in physiological conditions. It is known that human insulin may form amyloid fibers, but only under extreme experimental conditions (very low pH and high temperatures). Here, we have shown that the quantum dots (QDs) may induce amyloid-like fibrillation of human insulin under physiological conditions through a complex process strongly dependent on the size and surface charge of QDs. The insulin molecular structure and fibril morphology have been shown to be modified at different stages of its fibrillation, which has been proved by comparative analysis of the data obtained using circular dichroism, dynamic light scattering, amyloid-specific thioflavin T (ThT) assay, transmission electron microscopy, and high-speed atomic force microscopy. We have found important roles of the QD size and surface charge in the destabilization of the insulin structure and the subsequent fibrillation. Remodeling of the insulin secondary structure accompanied by remarkable increase in the rate of formation of amyloid-like fibrils under physiologically normal conditions was observed when the protein was incubated with QDs of exact specific diameter coated with slightly negative specific polyethylene glycol (PEG) derivatives. Strongly negatively or slightly positively charged PEG-modified QDs of the same specific diameter or QDs of bigger or smaller diameters had no effect on insulin fibrillation. The observed effects pave the way to the control of amyloidosis proteinopathy by varying the nanoparticle size and surface charge
Spectroscopy of Gigantic Combination Dissipation of Biological Molecules
Available from VNTIC / VNTIC - Scientific & Technical Information Centre of RussiaSIGLERURussian Federatio
Dosage de l'ADN toposomerase I dans les lignes cellulaires issues de tumeurs solides et approche nanotechnologique du dosage simultane de la protéine et de son gène
REIMS-BU Santé (514542104) / SudocPARIS-BIUP (751062107) / SudocSudocFranceF
Etude des proteines du cycle cellulaire, de la résistance aux inhibiteurs des topoisomérases et des virus polyoma dans 84 tumeurs cérébrales humaines astrocytaires et oligogliales : immunohistochimie, hybridation in situ et biologie moléculaire
REIMS-BU Santé (514542104) / SudocSudocFranceF
Label-Free Flow Multiplex Biosensing via Photonic Crystal Surface Mode Detection
International audienceCirculating cancer markers are metabolic products found in body fluids of cancer patients, which are specific for a certain type of malignant tumors. Cancer marker detection plays a key role in cancer diagnosis, treatment, and disease monitoring. The growing need for early cancer diagnosis requires quick and sensitive analytical approaches to detection of cancer markers. The approach based on the photonic crystal surface mode (PC SM) detection has been developed as a label-free high-precision biosensing technique. It allows real-time monitoring of molecular and cellular interactions using independent recording of the total internal reflection angle and the excitation angle of the PC surface wave. We used the PC SM technique for simultaneous detection of the ovarian cancer marker cancer antigen 125 and two breast cancer markers, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 and cancer antigen 15-3. The new assay is based on the real-time flow detection of specific interaction between the antigens and capture antibodies. Its particular advantage is the possibility of multichannel recording with the same chip, which can be used for multiplexed detection of several cancer markers in a single experiment. The developed approach demonstrates high specificity and sensitivity for detection of all three biomarkers
Quantum dots induce charge-specific amyloid-like fibrillation of insulin at physiological conditions
International audienceAgglomeration of some proteins may give rise to aggregates that have been identified as the main cause of amyloid diseases. For example, fibrillation of insulin is related to diabetes mellitus. Quantum dots (QDs) are of special interest as tagging agents for diagnostic and therapeutic studies due to their broad absorption spectra, narrow emission spectra, and high photostability. In this study, PEGylated CdSe/ZnS QDs have been shown to induce the formation of amyloid-like fibrils of human insulin under physiological conditions, this process being dependent on the variation of the surface charge of the nanoparticles (NPs) used. Circular dichroism (CD), protein secondary structure analysis, thioflavin T (ThT) fluorescence assay, and the dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique have been used for comparative analysis of different stages of the fibrillation process. In particular, insulin secondary structure remodelling accompanied by a considerable increase in the rate of amyloid fiber formation have been observed after insulin was mixed with PEGylated QDs. Nanoparticles may significantly influence the rate of protein fibrillation and induce new mechanisms of amyloid diseases, as well as offer opportunities for their treatment
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