One-step synthesized amphiphilic carbon dots for the super-resolution imaging of endoplasmic reticulum in live cells
Jiajia Li, Longdi Zhang, Juan Chen, Ruilong Zhang, Zhengjie Liu, Jun Zhao, Bianhua Liu, Ming‐Yong Han, Guangmei Han, Zhongping Zhang
Abstract
-phenylenediamine and phenylalanine. The obtained Phe-CDs not only had high brightness (quantum yield ∼18%) but also showed excellent photostability under ultraviolet irradiation. The CDs can quickly penetrate into cells within 2 min and are specific for intracellular ER. The further investigations by Phe-CDs revealed the reconstitution process of ER from loosely spaced tubes into a continuously dense network of tubules and sheets during cell division. Importantly, compared with the standard microscopy, STED super-resolution imaging allowed the tracking of the ER ultrastructure with a lateral resolution less than 100 nm and the pores within the ER network are clearly visible. Moreover, the three dimensional (3D) structure of ER was also successfully reconstructed from z-stack images due to the excellent photostability of Phe-CDs.