TY - JOUR
T1 - Carbon nanotubes allow capture of krypton, barium and lead for multichannel biological X-ray fluorescence imaging
AU - Serpell, Christopher J.
AU - Rutte, Reida N.
AU - Geraki, Kalotina
AU - Pach, Elzbieta
AU - Martincic, Markus
AU - Kierkowicz, Magdalena
AU - De Munari, Sonia
AU - Wals, Kim
AU - Raj, Ritu
AU - Ballesteros, Belén
AU - Tobias, Gerard
AU - Anthony, Daniel C.
AU - Davis, Benjamin G.
PY - 2016/10/26
Y1 - 2016/10/26
N2 - © 2016 The Author(s). The desire to study biology in situ has been aided by many imaging techniques. Among these, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping permits observation of elemental distributions in a multichannel manner. However, XRF imaging is underused, in part, because of the difficulty in interpreting maps without an underlying cellular 'blueprint'; this could be supplied using contrast agents. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be filled with a wide range of inorganic materials, and thus can be used as 'contrast agents' if biologically absent elements are encapsulated. Here we show that sealed single-walled CNTs filled with lead, barium and even krypton can be produced, and externally decorated with peptides to provide affinity for sub-cellular targets. The agents are able to highlight specific organelles in multiplexed XRF mapping, and are, in principle, a general and versatile tool for this, and other modes of biological imaging.
AB - © 2016 The Author(s). The desire to study biology in situ has been aided by many imaging techniques. Among these, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping permits observation of elemental distributions in a multichannel manner. However, XRF imaging is underused, in part, because of the difficulty in interpreting maps without an underlying cellular 'blueprint'; this could be supplied using contrast agents. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be filled with a wide range of inorganic materials, and thus can be used as 'contrast agents' if biologically absent elements are encapsulated. Here we show that sealed single-walled CNTs filled with lead, barium and even krypton can be produced, and externally decorated with peptides to provide affinity for sub-cellular targets. The agents are able to highlight specific organelles in multiplexed XRF mapping, and are, in principle, a general and versatile tool for this, and other modes of biological imaging.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13118
DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13118
M3 - Article
VL - 7
M1 - 13118
ER -