Colloidal quantum dots conjugated with human serum albumin – interactions and bioimaging properties

Abstract

Abstract Quantum dots, due to their unique optical properties, constitute significant materials for many areas of nanotechnology and bionanotechnology. This work presents a review of researches dedicated to the interaction between quantum dots (QDs) with human serum albumin (HSA) and human cell culture as important for nanomedicine applications. The optical properties of bio-nanocomplexes formed by nanoparticles including colloidal QDs (e.g., CdTe, CdS, CdCoS) and albumin are displayed. The absorption spectra show that adding HSA to colloidal QDs leads to a gradual decrease of absorption and broadening of the exciton structure. The photoluminescence quenching results indicate that the quenching effect of QDs on HSA fluorescence depends on the size and temperature. The nature of quenching is rather static, resulting in forming QD-HSA complexes. The CdTe QD-HSA complexes show chemical stability in a PBS buffer. Furthermore, it is stable in cytoplasm and suitable for cell labeling, tracking, and other bioimaging applications.