Imaging of compartmentalised intracellular nitric oxide, induced during bacterial phagocytosis, using a metalloprotein-gold nanoparticle conjugate.

ABSTRACT: Nitric oxide (NO) plays an essential role within the immune system since it is involved in the break-down of infectious agents such as viruses and bacteria. The ability to measure the presence of NO in the intracellular environment would provide a greater understanding of the pathophysiological mechanism of this important molecule. Here we report the detection of NO from the intracellular phagolysosome using a fluorescently tagged metalloprotein-gold nanoparticle conjugate. The metalloprotein cytochrome c, fluorescently tagged with an Alexa Fluor dye, was self-assembled onto gold nanoparticles to produce a NO specific nanobiosensor. Upon binding of NO, the cytochrome c protein changes conformation which induces an increase of fluorescence intensity of the tagged protein proportional to the

SUBMITTER: Leggett R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5708316 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature