Science Daily May 9, 2023
A team of researchers in the US (University of Oklahoma, Yale University) exposed mammalian cells to metallic nanoparticles and then embedded them within different swellable hydrogels to enable quantitative 3D imaging approaching electron-microscopy-like resolution using a standard light microscope. Using the nanoparticles’ light scattering properties, they demonstrated quantitative label-free imaging of intracellular nanoparticles with ultrastructural context and confirmed the compatibility of two expansion microscopy protocols, protein retention and pan-expansion microscopy, with nanoparticle uptake studies. The relative differences between nanoparticle cellular accumulation for various surface modifications were validated using mass spectrometry and determined the intracellular nanoparticle spatial distribution in 3D for entire single cells. This super-resolution imaging platform technology may be broadly used to understand the nanoparticle intracellular fate in fundamental and applied studies to potentially inform the engineering of safer and more effective nanomedicines… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Graphical abstract. Credit: ACS Nano 2023, 17, 9, 8376–8392, April 18, 2023Â