Multifunctional Rare-Earth Element Nanocrystals for Cell Labeling and Multimodal Imaging.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

In this work, we describe a simple solvothermal route for the synthesis of Eu 3+ -doped gadolinium orthovanadate nanocrystals (Eu:GdVO 4 -PAA) functionalized with poly(acrylic)acid (PAA), that are applicable as cell labeling probes for multimodal cellular imaging. The Eu 3+ doping of the vanadate matrix provides optical functionality, due to red photoluminescence after illumination with UV light. The Gd 3+ ions of the nanocrystals reduce the T1 relaxation time of surrounding water protons, allowing these nanocrystals to act as a positive MRI contrast agent with a r1 relaxivity of 1.97 mM -1 s -1 . Low background levels of Eu 3+ , Gd 3+ , and V 5+ in biological systems make them an excellent label for elemental microscopy by Laser Ablation (LA)-ICP-MS. Synthesis resulted in polycrystalline nanocrystals with a hydrodynamic diameter of 55 nm and a crystal size of 36.7 nm, which were further characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The multifunctional nanocrystals were subsequently used for intracellular labeling of both human adipose-derived stem cells (MSCs) and A549 (adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial) cells.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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