US scientists have made nanoparticles that undergo enzyme-induced changes in structure which are detectable in complex environments.
Enzymes have previously been used to manipulate nanoscale structures, with methods such as electron microscopy used to analyse the morphology changes. But, says Nathan Gianneschi at University of California, San Diego, changes in nanoscale architecture will only be detectable in vivo if the enzyme’s action results in an output signal unique to the nanoscale assembly, such as a spectrophotometric response.
So Gianneschi and colleagues developed enzyme-responsive fluorogenic micellar nanoparticles made from peptide–polymer amphiphiles labelled with fluorescent dyes. They showed they could use Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) signals to sensitively monitor the nanoparticles’ response to enzymes.
The results are a step towards the use of enzyme-programmed materials for molecular diagnostics and drugs.
Link to journal article
Fluorogenic Enzyme-Responsive Micellar Nanoparticles
M-P Chien et al
Chem. Sci., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2sc20165h
