单个氮化碳纳米片电化学发光成像监测细胞分泌铜离子

Electrochemiluminescence microscopy of single carbon nitride nanosheets monitors copper ion secretion from single cells

单细胞显微成像技术已经逐渐成为生物学中不可缺少的基础诊断工具.电化学发光(ECL)显微成像技术具有无需激发光源、零光学背景和响应速度快等优点,因此在单细胞分析中具有很大的优势.我们开发了基于石墨相氮化碳纳米片的ECL显微成像传感平台,用于实时监测单细胞分泌铜离子的含量.体外实验发现纳米片的ECL强度对铜离子具有良好的线性响应和选择性.细胞实验也同样证明了在细胞体系中,细胞周围的纳米片能够作为ECL探针用于监测细胞分泌铜离子的过程.这项单颗粒ECL成像技术有望用于进一步监测其他细胞分泌物.

Single-cell microscopy has been becoming an irreplaceable diagnosis tool in fundamental biological research. Electrochemiluminescence(ECL) microscopy possesses great merits in single-cell analysis such as fast response, zero optical background, and dispensation from light source. Here we develop ECL microscopy to in-situ monitor copper ion secretion from single cells on the basis of graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets. ECL emission of single g-C3N4 nanosheets shows good linear response and selectivity to copper ion in vitro. We also demonstrate that gC3N4 nanosheets around the cell act as ECL probes to trace the copper ion secretion from the cell. The proposed ECL microscopy has great potential to monitor other cell secretion in the future.