Nanoparticle-based biocompatible and long-life marker for lysosome labeling and tracking.

In this paper, a novel biocompatible and long-life lysosome labeling and tracking method based on dye entrapped silica nanoparticles (DSiNPs) has been put forward. Through colocalization studies using LysoTracker Green as the standard lysosome marker, it has been demonstrated that DSiNPs selectively accumulated in lysosomes of Hela cells and the photostability of DSiNPs associated with lysosomes was detectable, at least, 30 times as long as that of LysoTracker Green involved in lysosomes. By comparison with LysoTracker Green and Alexa 488-dextran, the fluorescence of DSiNPs could be detected over a 5-day postrecultivation period and the staining pattern in lysosomes could be well retained after cell fixation and permeabilization. In addition, results from MTT assays showed that DSiNPs did not affect the viability of Hela cells at the concentration for lysosome labeling. Primary applications of DSiNPs were then further performed in lysosome tracking in chloroquine-treated Hela cells, and lysosome labeling of differnet cell lines, including MCF-7 cells, MEAR cells, and MSC cells. These results indicated that DSiNPs, therefore, can be used as a biocompatible, long-life, and highly photostable lysosome marker for lysosome-related studies.