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Indium phosphide: Cadmium free quantum dots for cancer imaging and therapy

  • H. Chibli
  • , L. Carlini
  • , S. Park
  • , N. Dimitrijevic
  • , Jay L. Nadeau

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fluorescent semiconductor nanoparticles, or quantum dots (QDs), have attracted a lot of attention over the past decade due to their unique optical and chemical properties. Indium phosphide (InP) QDs have emerged as a replacement for the widely used cadmium based QDs but their cytotoxity has not been well examined. Several questions vis-ȧ- vis the InP QDs need to be addressed. Are they less toxic than CdSe/ZnS or CdTe? Are they as photoluminescent? Could they be used for imaging and photdynamic therapy (PDT)? Spin-trap electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and sulforhodamine B (SRB) viability assay indicates very low cytotoxicity in all cell lines tested, with toxicity proportional to ROS generation. Confocal microscopy showed none specific uptake of InP/ZnS concentrated in the perinuclear region. These data indicate that InP QDs are a viable alternative to cadmium-containing particles for biological applications.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationTechnical Proceedings of the 2011 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Expo, NSTI-Nanotech 2011
Pages133-136
Number of pages4
StatePublished - 2011
EventNanotechnology 2011: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational - 2011 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Expo, NSTI-Nanotech 2011 - Boston, MA, United States
Duration: Jun 13 2011Jun 16 2011

Publication series

NameTechnical Proceedings of the 2011 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Expo, NSTI-Nanotech 2011
Volume3

Conference

ConferenceNanotechnology 2011: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational - 2011 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Expo, NSTI-Nanotech 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston, MA
Period06/13/1106/16/11

Keywords

  • Electron paramagnetic resonance
  • Imaging
  • InP/ZnS
  • Quantum dots
  • Reactive oxygen species
  • Toxicity

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