From cow manure to bioactive carbon dots: a light-up probe for bioimaging investigations, glucose detection and potential immunotherapy agent for melanoma skin cancer
Frederíco Hillesheim Horst, Carime Vitória da Silva Rodrigues, Pedro H. P. R. Carvalho, Amanda Monteiro Leite, Ricardo Bentes Azevedo, Brenno A. D. Neto, José R. Corrêa, Mônica Pereira Garcia, Saud Alotaibi, M. Henini, Sacha Braun Chaves, Marcelo Oliveira Rodrigues
Abstract
4 nm were successfully produced with singular photophysical properties, low-toxicity and interesting immunological response. The optical properties of the C-dots were investigated and the "light-up" behaviour enabled them to be explored in glucose detection and bioimaging experiments (mitochondrial selective probe). C-dots were not selective to the tumour region and several fluorescent spots were visualized spread on animal bodies. The histology investigations showed that cancer-bearing mice treated with C-dots presented a large number of regions with necrosis and inflammatory infiltrates, which were not identified for cancer-bearing mice without the treatment. These results suggested that C-dots have the potential to be explored as an immune therapy agent for melanoma skin cancer.