Phospholipid-Tailored Titanium Carbide Nanosheets as a Novel Fluorescent Nanoprobe for Activity Assay and Imaging of Phospholipase D

Anal Chem. 2018 Jun 5;90(11):6742-6748. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b00581. Epub 2018 May 15.

Abstract

As one of the emerging inorganic graphene analogues, two-dimensional titanium carbide (Ti3C2) nanosheets have attracted extensive attention in recent years because of their remarkable structural and electronic properties. Herein, a sensitive and selective nanoprobe to fluorescently probe phospholipase D activity was developed on the basis of an ultrathin Ti3C2 nanosheets-mediated fluorescence quenching effect. Ultrathin Ti3C2 nanosheets with ∼1.3 nm in thickness were synthesized from bulk Ti3AlC2 powder by a two-step exfoliation procedure and further modified by a natural phospholipid that is doped with rhodamine B-labeled phospholipid (RhB-PL-Ti3C2). The close proximity between RhB and Ti3C2 leads to efficient fluorescence quenching (>95%) of RhB by energy transfer. Phospholipase D-catalyzed lipolysis of the phosphodiester bond in RhB-PL results in RhB moving away from the surface of Ti3C2 nanosheets and subsequent fluorescence recovery of RhB, providing a fluorescent "switch-on" assay for the phospholipase D activity. The proposed nanoprobe was successfully applied to quantitatively determine phospholipase D activity with a low limit of detection (0.10 U L-1) and to measure its inhibition. Moreover, in situ monitoring and imaging the activity of phospholipase D in living cells were achieved using this biocompatible nanoprobe. These results reveal that Ti3C2 nanosheets-based probes exhibit great potential in fluorometric assay and clinical diagnostic applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemical synthesis
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry*
  • Optical Imaging*
  • Phospholipase D / analysis*
  • Phospholipids / chemistry*
  • Titanium / chemistry*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Phospholipids
  • titanium carbide
  • Titanium
  • Phospholipase D