ABSTRACT
Highly luminescent, manganese doped, zinc sulphide (ZnS:Mn) nanocrystals biofunctionalized with chitosan and various aminoacids such as L-citrulline, L-lysine, L-arginine, L-serine, L-histidine and glycine were synthesized by chemical capping co-precipitation method at room temperature, which is a simple and cost effective technique. The synthesized nanocrystals were structurally characterized by TEM, XRD, EDXS and FT-IR spectroscopy techniques. They possess high colloidal stability with strong orange red photoluminescence emission at 598 nm. The intensity of orange red emission has been observed to be maximum in L-citrulline capped ZnS:Mn nanocrystals in which the emission at 420 nm is effectively quenched by surface passivation due to capping. Taking into consideration the prospects of these highly luminescent, bio-compatible ZnS:Mn nanocrystals in bio-imaging applications, cytotoxicity studies were conducted to identify the capping combination which would accomplish minimum toxic effects. ZnS:Mn nanocrystals biofunctionalized with chitosan, L-citrulline, glycine, L-artginine, L-serine and L-histidine showed least toxicity up to 10 nM concentrations in mouse fibroblast L929 cells, which further confirms their cytocompatibility. Also the ZnS:Mn nanocrystals biofunctionalized with l-arginine showed maximum uptake in in vitro studies carried out in human embryonic kidney cells, HEK-293T, which shows the significant role of this particular amino acid in fetoplacental nutrition. The present study highlights the suitability of aminoacid conjugated ZnS:Mn nanocrystals, as promising candidates for biomedical applications.
Subject(s)
Amino Acids/chemistry , Chitosan/chemistry , Endocytosis/drug effects , Manganese/toxicity , Nanoparticles/toxicity , Sulfides/toxicity , Zinc Compounds/toxicity , Animals , Cell Death/drug effects , Cell Survival/drug effects , HEK293 Cells , Humans , Luminescence , Mice , Nanoparticles/ultrastructure , Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared , X-Ray DiffractionABSTRACT
Biocompatible and highly luminescent manganese doped zinc sulfide (ZnS:Mn) nanocrystals of average particle size 10 nm have been synthesized by capping with a novel amino acid ligand, L-citrulline. Though there are many reports on the bioimaging applications of nanostructured semiconductors, the present study focused on the detection of a special type of metal accumulating bacteria, Lysinibacillus fusiformis. This bacterium has significant applications in the disposal of metal components from industrial effluents. In this context, the detection of this bacterium is quite important and the present work demonstrates a novel technique for this bacterial detection. The synthesized nanocrystals were attached to Lysinibacillus fusiformis and characteristics of the bioconjugated system were studied. The blue shift observed in the ultraviolet-visible absorption and photoluminescence spectra of the bioconjugated system, confirms conjugation of the Lysinibacillus fusiformis with L-citrulline-capped ZnS:Mn. When the bioconjugated system (capped ZnS:Mn + bacteria) was observed using a fluorescent microscope under excitation wavelengths 365.4 nm (ultraviolet), 435.8 nm (blue) and 546.1 nm (green), fluorescence emissions were obtained in yellow, green and red regions respectively. The study of relative growth of Lysinibacillus fusiformis in the presence of L-citrulline-capped ZnS:Mn proves biocompatible property of these nanocrystals and their tunable color properties under different excitation wavelengths make them ideal for biolabeling applications.
Subject(s)
Bacillaceae/chemistry , Biocompatible Materials/chemistry , Citrulline/chemistry , Luminescence , Magnesium/chemistry , Nanoparticles/chemistry , Sulfides/chemistry , Zinc Compounds/chemistry , Biocompatible Materials/chemical synthesis , Particle Size , Surface PropertiesABSTRACT
Chitosan capped zinc sulphide nanocrystals doped with manganese (ZnS:Mn) have been synthesised by chemical capping co-precipitation method and structurally characterised by XRD, TEM and EDXS techniques. The dependence of optical properties on the size of these bio-compatible ZnS:Mn nanocrystals was investigated by UV/Vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic techniques in aqueous solvents. A variation in molar concentration of the precursor, sodium sulphide, from 0.125 to 0.01 mol L(-1) is accompanied by a decrease in particle size. The excitonic peak in the UV/Vis spectra is found to be blue shifted with a decrease in size of the nanocrystals due to confinement effects. In the present study, trypsin was immobilised onto ZnS:Mn nanocrystals using glutaraldehyde (GA) as cross-linker, which was confirmed by photoluminescence (PL) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic studies. Results indicate that the activity of trypsin, immobilised onto chitosan modified nanocrystals, has improved upon cross-linking, which suggests that the immobilised trypsin has become more stable and active. This work highlights the prospects of potential applications of immobilised trypsin in therapeutic and diagnostic fields.