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Facile synthesis of highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots and their role in bioimaging of some pathogenic microorganisms

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Abstract

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with outstanding fluorescence properties have shown enormous applications in bioimaging due to their biocompatibility and nano size attribute. However, the toxicity of QDs may hinder their implementation in biomedical use. Here, nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) were produced by employing a microwave-assisted approach and then their in vivo and in vitro toxicity has been investigated. An in vitro toxicity study was conducted against human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines (MDA-MB-361) by considering the concentration of 0–600μg mL−1 of the N-CQDs and the in vivo toxicity examination was done in Swiss albino mice for 30 days by considering two concentrations of N-CQDs, i.e., 10mg/kg BW (body weight) and 20mg/kg BW. Several parameters have been inspected by these studies like cell viability, antioxidant enzymes studies, and hematological and histopathological studies, and concluded that the synthesized NCQDs are non-toxic and can be used safely for bioimaging. Furthermore, the luminescence properties of N-CQDs were inquired by labeling them on a variety of fungal and bacterial cells. When the N-CQD-labeled cells were excited at two wavelengths, it leads to the emission of green and red fluorescence enabling them ideal for bioimaging. Briefly, there is a production of inexpensive and biocompatible N-CQDs of an average particle size of ~3.16 nm that can serve as universal fluorescent agents for the detection of diverse groups of pathogenic microorganisms.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, for JRF grant (JRF Grant no: 09/013(0897)/2019-EMR-I) for Aakriti Prakash and Institute of Eminence (IoE), BHU, Varanasi, India (Grant no. R/Dev/D/IoE/Incentive/2021–22/32277), for Preeti Suman Saxena. We also acknowledge DST and SATHI-BHU for providing Confocal Laser Scanning Super Resolution Microscope facility for our research work.

Funding

This research work was funded by two funding agencies who financially supported this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Aakriti Prakash, Sujit Yadav & Preeti S. Saxena

  2. Department of Microbiology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Punit Tiwari & Ragini Tilak

  3. Department of Physics, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Anchal Srivastava

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Contributions

Aakriti Prakash: devised the main concept of the work, carried out the experiment, and prepared the manuscript.

Sujit Yadav: helped to analyze and manage data.

Punit Tiwari: helped in providing the strain of fungi and bacteria.

Anchal Srivastava: guidance.

Ragini Tilak: guidance and her lab was used for procurement of microorganisms.

Preeti Suman Saxena: guidance.

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Correspondence to Preeti S. Saxena.

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Prakash, A., Yadav, S., Tiwari, P. et al. Facile synthesis of highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots and their role in bioimaging of some pathogenic microorganisms. J Nanopart Res 25, 237 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-023-05893-1

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