3-3--dioctadecyloxacarbocyanine and 3-3--dioctadecylindocarbocyanine

Specific interactions between viruses and host cells provide essential insights into material science-based strategies to combat emerging viral diseases. pH-triggered viral fusion is ubiquitous to multiple viral families and is important for understanding the viral infection cycle. Inspired by this process, virus detection has been achieved using nanomaterials with host-mimetic membranes, enabling interactions with amphiphilic hemagglutinin fusion peptides of viruses. Most research has been on designing functional nanoparticles with fusogenic capability for virus detection, and there has been little exploitation of the kinetic stability to alter the ability of nanoparticles to interact with viral membranes and improve their sensing performance. In this study, a homogeneous fluorescent assay using self-assembled polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) with tunable responsiveness to external stimuli is developed for rapid and straightforward detection of an activated influenza A virus. Dissociation of PNPs induced by virus insertion can be readily controlled by varying the fraction of hydrophilic segments in copolymers constituting PNPs, giving rise to fluorescence signals within 30 min and detection of various influenza viruses, including H9N2, CA04(H1N1), H4N6, and H6N8. Therefore, the designs demonstrated in this study propose underlying approaches for utilizing engineered PNPs through modulation of their kinetic stability for direct and sensitive identification of infectious viruses.

Topics: Animals; Carbocyanines; Chickens; Eggs; Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; Fluorescent Dyes; Influenza A virus; Limit of Detection; Membrane Fusion; Membranes, Artificial; Nanoparticles; Peptides; Polyethylene Glycols; Viral Fusion Proteins

A novel and versatile design of DNA-lipid conjugates is presented. The assembly of the DNA headgroups into G-quadruplex structures is essential for the formation of micelles and their stability. By hybridization with a complementary oligonucleotide the micelles were destabilized, resulting in cargo release. In combination with a hairpin DNA aptamer as complementary strand, the release is obtained selectively by the presence of ATP.

Topics: Adenosine Triphosphate; Animals; Aptamers, Nucleotide; Carbocyanines; Cattle; DNA; Drug Carriers; Drug Liberation; Fluorescent Dyes; G-Quadruplexes; Lipids; Micelles; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; Oxazines; Serum Albumin, Bovine

The aim of this research is to study the dynamics and efficiency of liposome accumulation in sensitive and resistant human breast cancer cells.. Methods of fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence microspectroscopy and MTT-test have been used.. The liposome-to-cell interaction and dye cellular uptake in sensitive, cisplatin-resistant and doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 human breast cancer cells have been analyzed using time changes in both fluorescence resonance energy transfer signal from the donor probe DiO to the acceptor one DiI preloaded in liposomes and cell image brightness.. Obtained results show that resistant cells accumulate dye-loaded liposomes more effectively and reveal more effective dye molecule cellular uptake.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Breast Neoplasms; Carbocyanines; Cisplatin; Doxorubicin; Drug Carriers; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer; Fluorescent Dyes; Humans; Lipid Bilayers; Liposomes; MCF-7 Cells; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Molecular Structure; Phosphatidylcholines; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Tissue Distribution

Quantitative assessment of microvascular structure is relevant to the investigations of ischemic injury, reparative angiogenesis and tumor revascularization. In light microscopy applications, thick tissue specimens are necessary to characterize microvascular networks; however, thick tissue leads to image distortions due to out-of-focus light. Structured illumination confocal microscopy is an optical sectioning technique that improves contrast and resolution by using a grid pattern to identify the plane-of-focus within the specimen. Because structured illumination can be applied to wide-field (nonscanning) microscopes, the microcirculation can be studied by sequential intravital and confocal microscopy. To assess the application of structured illumination confocal microscopy to microvessel imaging, we studied cell-sized microspheres and fused silica microcapillary tissue phantoms. As expected, structured illumination produced highly accurate images in the lateral (X-Y) plane, but demonstrated a loss of resolution in the Z-Y plane. Because the magnitude of Z-axis distortion was variable in complex tissues, the silica microcapillaries were used as spatial calibration standards. Morphometric parameters, such as shape factor, were used to empirically optimize Z-axis software compression. We conclude that the silica microcapillaries provide a useful tissue phantom for in vitro studies as well as spatial calibration standard for in vivo morphometry of the microcirculation.

Topics: Animals; Calibration; Capillaries; Carbocyanines; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Microcirculation; Microscopy, Confocal; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Microspheres; Microvessels; Nonlinear Dynamics; Phantoms, Imaging; Silicon Dioxide; Software

We have characterized a method of labeling of axons in the post-mortem spinal cord using a silastic disc holding pins coated with DiI and DiO at the rostral and caudal ends of the cord. We optimized the DiI and DiO tracing techniques under different conditions of fixative concentration (1% versus 4% paraformaldehyde, PF), at room temperature (RT) versus 37 degrees C for up to 24 weeks. Crystal coated pins embedded in a silastic disc provided a novel method of dye application. Confocal microscopy of longitudinal sections showed DiI and DiO labeled both the axonal membrane and myelin sheath. DiI diffused significantly longer distances than DiO. Both dyes migrated greater distances at 37 degrees C compared with RT. No significant difference of dye labeling was found between 1% and 4% PF fixation. After prolonged incubation there was evidence that dye diffused through the aqueous medium and produced circumferential labeling of the cord. Placing a wax seal around the labeling site prevented this non-contiguous labeling. Labeling of myelin sheaths at extended distances into the cord suggested that dye could migrate between cells with prolonged incubation periods. Our data suggested that higher temperature facilitated dye diffusion along the axons, and demonstrated that with caution DiI and DiO could be used as specific tracers in the same spinal cords.

Topics: Animals; Axons; Carbocyanines; Coloring Agents; Diffusion; Female; Fixatives; Formaldehyde; Microscopy, Confocal; Nerve Regeneration; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Spinal Cord; Temperature; Tissue Fixation

Cell-to-cell communication is a crucial prerequisite for the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. To date, diverse mechanisms of intercellular exchange of information have been documented, including chemical synapses, gap junctions, and plasmodesmata. Here, we describe highly sensitive nanotubular structures formed de novo between cells that create complex networks. These structures facilitate the selective transfer of membrane vesicles and organelles but seem to impede the flow of small molecules. Accordingly, we propose a novel biological principle of cell-to-cell interaction based on membrane continuity and intercellular transfer of organelles.

Topics: Actins; Animals; Biological Transport; Carbocyanines; Cell Communication; Cell Line; Cell Membrane; Cell Surface Extensions; Endocytosis; Endosomes; Fluorescent Dyes; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Luminescent Proteins; Membrane Proteins; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Microscopy, Video; Organelles; PC12 Cells; Protein Prenylation; Protein Transport; Pseudopodia; Rats; Recombinant Fusion Proteins; Synaptophysin

Developing axons reach their final targets as a result of a series of axonal projections to successive intermediate targets. Long-range chemoattraction by intermediate targets plays a key role in this process. Growing axons, however, do not stall at the intermediate targets, where the chemoattractant concentration is expected to be maximal. Commissural axons in the metencephalon, initially attracted by a chemoattractant released from the floor plate, were shown to lose responsiveness to the chemoattractant when they crossed the floor plate in vitro. Such changes in axon responsiveness to chemoattractants may enable developing axons to continue to navigate toward their final destinations.

Topics: Animals; Axons; Carbocyanines; Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal; Chemotaxis; Contactin 2; Culture Techniques; Fluorescent Dyes; Membrane Glycoproteins; Nerve Growth Factors; Netrin-1; Pons; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Rhombencephalon; Tumor Suppressor Proteins

We investigated the potential role of rostral-caudal and dorsal-ventral subdivisions of the early rostral brain by relating these subdivisions to the early patterning of neuron cell bodies and their axon projections. The earliest neurons were mapped using the lipophilic axon tracers diI and diO on embryos fixed on embryonic days 9.5-10.5 (E9.5-E10.5); neuromeric boundaries were marked by diO. The tracts were small in number, were organized orthogonally (2 dorsal-ventral and 4 rostral-caudal), and originated from groups of cell bodies which we term "sources." Two parallel longitudinal axon systems, one dorsal (the tract of the postoptic commissure and the mesencephalic tract of the trigeminal nerve) and one ventral (the mammillotegmental tract and the medial longitudinal fasciculus), projected caudally from the prosencephalon into the rhombencephalon. We argue that the dorsal longitudinal pathway marked the boundary between the alar and basal plates along the entire neuraxis. The dorsal-ventral axons coursed circumferentially and either crossed the midline (forming the posterior and ventral tegmental commissures) or turned caudally without crossing the midline. The dorsal-ventral axons were not generally restricted to the interneuromeric boundaries, as others have suggested. Earlier, all neighboring neurons projected their axons together; later, nearby neurons projected into different pathways. Some tracts originated in single neuromeres, while other tracts had origins in two or more neuromeres. The dorsal longitudinal axons altered course at several of the borders, but the ventral longitudinal axons did not. In summary, the early subdivisions appeared to influence some, but not all, aspects of tract formation.

Topics: Animals; Carbocyanines; Immunohistochemistry; Mesencephalon; Mice; Molecular Probes; Neural Pathways; Neurons; Oculomotor Nerve; Prosencephalon; Trigeminal Nerve; Trochlear Nerve

Red blood cells labeled with the carbocyanine dyes, 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI) and 3,3'-dioctadecyloxacarbocyanine perchlorate (DiO), were evaluated for use in making microvascular measurements in rat small intestine and spinotrapezius muscle. We determined the minimum concentration of each dye which produced near maximal fluorescent intensity and labeled cell fraction. These dyes, which have excitation and emission spectra similar to fluorescein and rhodamine derivatives, have a number of advantages over the isothiocyanates: (1) the labeling procedure is quicker, easier, and less expensive; (2) the labeled cell fraction and the fluorescent intensity of DiI and DiO cells are stable for long periods of time in the rat circulation; and (3) DiI-labeled cells are brighter and transmit light through overlying erythrocytes better than rhodamine X isothiocyanate. However, in vitro and in vivo evaluations illustrate the potential limiting effects of vessel diameter and cell velocity on the accuracy of microvascular measurements made using this technique. In the small intestine and spinotrapezius muscle preparations, measurements of labeled cell flux were readily reproducible and could be partly automated with image analysis only in capillaries and small venules. Counting labeled cells in larger vessels by human observation or with automation was not reproducible, presumably due to absorption and dispersion of the fluorescent signal by overlying erythrocytes and smearing of the cell image at high cell velocities.

Topics: Animals; Carbocyanines; Erythrocytes; Fluorescent Dyes; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Intestine, Small; Microcirculation; Muscles; Rats