南京大学徐静娟团队开发了一种用于细胞内药物传递和治疗效果评估的集成光电化学纳米工具。相关研究成果于2021年9月30日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《德国应用化学》。

光电化学（PEC）具有低背景、高灵敏度等优点，可以作为一种细胞内纳米工具应用，为单细胞研究开辟了一个新的技术方向。然而，目前的单细胞工具调色板缺乏这种面向PEC的解决方案。

该文中，研究人员通过在纳米移液管顶端设计目标特定的有机分子/NiO/Ni膜，设计了一种双功能光电阴极单细胞纳米工具，能够直接电渗细胞内药物递送和氧化应激评估。具体而言，有机分子探针同时作为生物认知元件和敏化剂与p型NiO协同作用。当细胞内以皮升水平输送时，氧化应激效应将导致有机探针的结构改变，改变其光吸收并改变阴极响应。

该研究工作揭示了PEC单细胞纳米工具的潜力，扩展了当前单细胞电分析的边界。

附：英文原文

Title: An Integrated Photoelectrochemical Nanotool for Intracellular Drug Delivery and Treatment Effect Evaluation

Author: Yi-Fan Ruan, Feng-Zao Chen, Yi-Tong Xu, Tian-Yang Zhang, Si-Yuan Yu, Wei-Wei Zhao, Dechen Jiang, Hong-Yuan Chen, Jing-Juan Xu

Issue&Volume: 2021-09-30

Abstract: With reduced background and high sensitivity, photoelectrochemistry (PEC) may be applied as an intracellular nanotool and open a new technological direction of single-cell study. Nevertheless, the present palette of single-cell tools lacks such a PEC-oriented solution. Here a dual-functional photocathodic single-cell nanotool capable of direct electroosmotic intracellular drug delivery and evaluation of oxidative stress is devised by engineering a target-specific organic molecule/NiO/Ni film at the tip of a nanopipette. Specifically, the organic molecule probe serves simultaneously as the biorecognition element and sensitizer to synergize with p-type NiO. Upon intracellular delivery at picoliter level, the oxidative stress effect will cause structural change of the organic probe, switching its optical absorption and altering the cathodic response. This work has revealed the potential of PEC single-cell nanotool and extended the boundary of current single-cell electroanalysis.

DOI: 10.1002/anie.202111608

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202111608