CrossRef 19. Kuznetsov A, check details Shimizu T, Kuznetsov S, Klekachev A, Shingubara S, Vanacken J, Moshchalkov V: Origin of visible photoluminescence from arrays of vertically arranged Si-nanopillars decorated with Si-nanocrystals. Nanotechnology 2012,23(47):475709.CrossRef 20. Qu Y, Liao L, Li Y, Zhang H, Huang Y, Duan X: Electrically conductive and optically active porous silicon nanowires. Nano Lett 2009,9(12):4539.CrossRef 21. Zhang L, Yu J, Yang M, Xie Q, Peng H, Liu Z: Janus graphene from asymmetric two-dimensional chemistry. Nat Commun 2013, 4:1443.CrossRef Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions CZ and CL designed the study and carried out
the experiments. CZ, ZL, JZ, and CX performed the treatment of experimental data. CZ, CL, YZ, BC, and QW took part in the discussions of the results and prepared the manuscript initially. All authors
read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background Two-photon-fluorescent Dactolisib manufacturer nanoparticles, primarily quantum dots (QDs), have recently attracted much attention for their many promising applications, especially in the field of biomedical imaging [1, 2] and detection [3–5]. These QDs are considered as being more advantageous over conventional organic dyes in terms of optical brightness, photostability, and resistance to metabolic degradation [6]. However, heavy metals as the essential elements in QDs have prompted serious health and environmental concerns [7]. Therefore, the search for benign alternatives has become increasingly important and urgent.
Sun et al. discovered that nanosized pure carbon particles may be surface-passivated to exhibit bright photoluminescence in the visible and near-infrared spectral regions [8]. These photoluminescent carbon nanoparticles, abbreviated as carbon dots, were found to be physicochemically and photochemically stable and non-blinking and exhibited very high two-photon absorption cross sections [9, 10]. Carbon dots as a new class of QD-like fluorescent nanomaterials have Etomidate been widely explored in biological applications and beyond [9–12]. Carbon has generally not been considered as a toxic element; however, there are growing evidence and controversies concerning the toxicity of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes [13–15]. For special material configurations and structures found in carbon dots, it is essential to evaluate their biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo. In this contribution, we investigated the effects of carbon dots on the immune function of normal BALB/c mice to elucidate the interactions between carbon dots and the immune system and to explore more theoretic evidence for the application of carbon dots in the field of medical diagnosis and biotherapeutics. Methods Experimental agents Experimental agents were sourced from the following locations: raw soot (Jixi Kaiwen Hu Limited Co., Jixi, Anhui, China); RPMI-1640 (HyClone, Thermo Scientific Co.