Synthesis of fluorescent silica nanoparticles and their applications as fluorescence probes.

This paper presents the synthesis of organic dye molecules embedded silica nanoparticles by Stöber method and their applications as fluorescence probes in cell imaging. By modifying the surface of fluorescent silica nanoparticles (FSNs) with amino, biologically functionalized and monodisperse FSNs can be obtained. In this work, FSNs were conjugated with monoclonal anti-Carcinoembryonic Antigen (anti-CEA) antibody via covalent binding. The antibody-conjugated FSNs can be used to label the SPCA-1 cells successfully, demonstrating that the application of FSNs as fluorescence probes in fluorescence imaging and bioassay would be feasible. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011