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Thiol-Capped CdTe Quantum Dots with Two-Photon Excitation for Imaging High Autofluorescence Background Living Cells

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Abstract

To effectively image living cells with quantum dots (QDs), particularly for those cells containing high content of native fluorophores, the two-photon excitation (TPE) with a femto-second 800 nm laser was employed and compared with the single-photon excitations (SPE) of 405 nm and 488 nm in BY-2 Tobacco (BY-2-T) and human hepatocellular carcinoma (QGY) cells, respectively. The 405 nm SPE produced the bright photoluminescence (PL) signals of cellular QDs but also induced a strong autofluorescence(AF) from the native fluorophores like flavins in cells. The AF occupied about 30% and 13% of the total signals detected in QD imaging channel in the BY-2-T and QGY cells, respectively. With the excitation of 488 nm SPE, the PL signals were lower than those excited with the 405 nm SPE, although the AF signals were also reduced. The 800 nm TPE generated the best PL images of intracellular QDs with the highest signal ratio of PL to AF, because the two-photon absorption cross section of QDs is much higher than that of the native fluorophores. By means of the TPE, the reliable cellular imaging with QDs, even for the cells having the high AF background, can be achieved.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (06ZR14005), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10774027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Surface Physics Laboratory (National key laboratory) and Department of Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Wang, Ji-Yao Chen & Shen Zhen

  2. Key Laboratory for Advanced Photonic Materials and Devices, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Pei-Nan Wang

  3. Department of Macromolecular Science and Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Chang-Chun Wang & Wu-Li Yang

  4. Department of Pathology, The National Hospital-Norwegian Radium Hospital, University of Oslo, Montebello, 0310, Oslo, Norway

    Qian Peng

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  1. Tao Wang
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  2. Ji-Yao Chen
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Correspondence to Ji-Yao Chen.

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Wang, T., Chen, JY., Zhen, S. et al. Thiol-Capped CdTe Quantum Dots with Two-Photon Excitation for Imaging High Autofluorescence Background Living Cells. J Fluoresc 19, 615–621 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-008-0452-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-008-0452-9

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