REGULAR ARTICLES

Cell Research (2003); 13(6):503-507

Mortalin imaging in normal and cancer cells with quantum dot immuno-conjugates

Zeenia KAUL, Tomoko YAGUCHI, Sunil C KAUL, Takashi HIRANO, Renu WADHWA^*, Kazunari TAIRA

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 3058562, Japan.

E-mail: renu-wadhwa@aist.go.jp

Received Sept-6-2003 Revised Sep-15-2003 Accepted Sep-25-2003

Correspondence: Renu WADHWA Gene Function Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan. Tel: +81 29 861 9464, Fax: +81 29 861 3019 E-mail: renu-wadhwa@aist.go.jp

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Abstract

Quantum dots are the nanoparticles that are recently emerging as an alternative to organic fluorescence probes in cell biology and biomedicine, and have several predictive advantages. These include their i) broad absorption spectra allowing visualization with single light source, ii) exceptional photo-stability allowing long term studies and iii) narrow and symmetrical emission spectrum that is controlled by their size and material composition. These unique properties allow simultaneous excitation of different size of quantum dots with a single excitation light source, their simultaneous resolution and visualization as different colors. At present there are only a few studies that have tested quantum dots in cellular imaging. We describe here the use of quantum dots in mortalin imaging of normal and cancer cells. Mortalin staining pattern with quantum dots in both normal and cancer cells mimicked those obtained with organic florescence probes and were considerably stable.
Key words: quantum dots, immunofluorescence, mortalin, visualization.