Carbon dots based on targeting unit inheritance strategy for Golgi apparatus-targeting imaging

Abstract

The Golgi apparatus is one of the important organelles, where the final processing and packaging of cellular secretions (such as proteins) are completed. The disorder of Golgi apparatus structure and function will induce many diseases. Therefore, monitoring the morphological structure of Golgi apparatus is crucial for the diagnosis and treatment of relevant diseases. In order to achieve Golgi apparatus-targeting imaging, the strategy of targeting unit inheritance was adopted and carbon dots (CDs) with Golgi apparatus-targeting ability were synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method with L-ascorbic acid with high reactivity and reducibility as the carbon source and L-cysteine as the targeting unit. CDs have a certain amount of cysteine residues on their surface, and have excitation dependence, satisfactory fluorescence and cysteine residues stability and low toxicity. As an imaging agent, CDs can be used for targeting imaging of Golgi apparatus.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

carbon dot / Golgi apparatus / targeting imaging

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Disclosure of potential conflicts of interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82172048 and U21A20378), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province (202103021223439 and 201901D111419), the Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering (2021SX-FR010), the Shanxi Technology Innovation Center for Controlled and Sustained Release of Nano-drugs (202104010911026), the Doctoral Starting Foundation of Shanxi Province (SD2218) and the Doctoral Foundation of the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University (202201-1), Collaborative Innovation Center of R&D molecular diagnosis, Treatment Technology and targeted drugs for cancer of Shanxi Medical University (5-2-1-A-5).

Electronic supplementary information

Supplementary materials can be found in the online version at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-023-0627-y, which includes Fig. S1.

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