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Carbon nanotubes allow capture of krypton, barium and lead for multichannel biological X-ray fluorescence imaging
Authors:
Christopher J.
Serpell
(University of Oxford; University of Kent)
,
Reida N.
Rutte
(University of Oxford)
,
Kalotina
Geraki
(Diamond Light Source)
,
Elzbieta
Pach
(Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2); CSIC; The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology)
,
Markus
Martincic
(Institut de Cie`ncia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC))
,
Magdalena
Kierkowicz
(Institut de Cie`ncia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC))
,
Sonia
De Munari
(University of Oxford)
,
Kim
Wals
(University of Oxford)
,
Ritu
Raj
(Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford)
,
Belen
Ballesteros
(Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2); CSIC; The Barcelona Institute of Science)
,
Gerard
Tobias
(Institut de Cie`ncia de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC))
,
Daniel C.
Anthony
(Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford)
,
Benjamin G.
Davis
(Chemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford)
Co-authored by industrial partner:
No
Type:
Journal Paper
Journal:
Nature Communications
, VOL 7
, PAGES 13118
State:
Published (Approved)
Published:
October 2016
Diamond Proposal Number(s):
11203

Abstract: The desire to study biology in situ has been aided by many imaging techniques. Among these, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping permits observation of elemental distributions in a multichannel manner. However, XRF imaging is underused, in part, because of the difficulty in interpreting maps without an underlying cellular ‘blueprint’; this could be supplied using contrast agents. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be filled with a wide range of inorganic materials, and thus can be used as ‘contrast agents’ if biologically absent elements are encapsulated. Here we show that sealed single-walled CNTs filled with lead, barium and even krypton can be produced, and externally decorated with peptides to provide affinity for sub-cellular targets. The agents are able to highlight specific organelles in multiplexed XRF mapping, and are, in principle, a general and versatile tool for this, and other modes of biological imaging.
Journal Keywords: XRF carbon nanotubes x-ray imaging nanobiotechnology molecular medicine organelles chemical tools Flourescence imaging
Subject Areas:
Biology and Bio-materials,
Chemistry
Instruments:
I18-Microfocus Spectroscopy
Documents:
ncomms13118.pdf