Single europium-doped nanoparticles measure temporal pattern of reactive oxygen species production inside cells

Didier Casanova (1) , Cédric Bouzigues (1) , Thanh-Liêm Nguyên (1) , Rivo O. Ramodiharilafy (1) , Latifa Bouzhir-Sima (1) , Thierry Gacoin (2) , Jean-Pierre Boilot (2) , Pierre-Louis Tharaux (3) , Antigoni Alexandrou (1)

1 LOB - Laboratoire d'optique et biosciences
2 LPMC - Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée
3 PARCC - UMR-S U970 - Paris-Centre de Recherche Cardiovasculaire

Low concentrations of reactive oxygen species, notably hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2), mediate various signalling processes in the cell. Production of these signals is highly regulated and a suitable probe is needed to measure these events. Here, we show that a probe based on a single nanoparticle can quantitatively measure transient H 2 O 2 generation in living cells. The Y 0.6 Eu 0.4 VO 4 nanoparticles undergo photoreduction under laser irradiation but re-oxidize in the presence of oxidants, leading to a recovery in luminescence. Our probe can be regenerated and reliably detects intracellular H 2 O 2 with a 30-s temporal resolution and a dynamic range of 1-45?M. The differences in the timing of intracellular H 2 O 2 production triggered by different signals were also measured using these nanoparticles. Although the probe is not selective towards H 2 O 2, in many signalling processes H 2 O 2 is, however, the dominant oxidant. In conjunction with appropriate controls, this probe is a powerful tool for unravelling pathways that involve reactive oxygen species. Cop. 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Didier Casanova, Cédric Bouzigues, Thanh-Liêm Nguyên, Rivo O. Ramodiharilafy, Latifa Bouzhir-Sima, et al.. Single europium-doped nanoparticles measure temporal pattern of reactive oxygen species production inside cells. Nature Nanotechnology, 2009, 4 (9), pp.581. ⟨10.1038/nnano.2009.200⟩. ⟨hal-00818493⟩