NUK - logo
E-resources
Full text
Peer reviewed Open access
  • Synthesis of uniform Picker...
    Li, Zeqin; Ma, Houshi; Guo, Yuxin; Fang, Hao; Zhu, Chunsen; Xue, Jinbin; Wang, Wenzhong; Luo, Gangyin; Sun, Yi

    Talanta (Oxford), 09/2023, Volume: 262
    Journal Article

    Tumor markers play a significant role in early cancer diagnosis, evaluation of the extent of the disease, and monitoring of therapy response. In this study, we described the Pickering emulsion polymerization method to synthesize uniform magnetic/fluorescent microspheres. A Pickering-structure composed of a lot silica nanoparticle closely covered onto the quantum dot-encoded magnetic microbeads is designed and synthesized. The uniform magnetic/fluorescent microspheres were prepared using a microfluidic device and the performance of the microspheres synthesized by the instruments was evaluated by flow cytometry. To avoid fluorescence quenching and intrinsic toxicity, CdSe/ZnS core-shell quantum dot and Fe3O4 nanoparticle were successfully encapsulated into MFM microspheres using the microfluidic technology. Using this structure enables the facile realization of a theoretical 4 × 4 barcoding matrix combining two colors and four fluorescence intensity levels. Then, different optical codes were prepared by simple changing the emission wavelength and the intensity of the quantum dots. The resulting microsphere are combined with flow cytometer using two lasers for decoding of multiplex tumor markers. Moreover, the stability testing of microspheres demonstrated good performance for further application in detection of tumor markers as well. When applied for the high-throughput ultrasensitive detection of three tumor markers (CEA, CA125 and CA199) in a single sample, the detection limits of 0.027 ng/mL for CEA, 1.48 KU/L for CA125 and 1.09 KU/L for CA199 are achieved, which exhibit superior detection performance. Thus, Pickering-structure magnetic/fluorescent microspheres are promising for application in tumor markers. Display omitted •One-step method integrates optical barcodes and magnetic nanoparticles into microspheres for simple and low-cost operation.•Microspheres synthesized by Pickering emulsion polymerization have a high specific surface area.•Silica nanoparticles as stabilizers not only enhance the stability of the microspheres, but also make the microspheres easier to modify, expanding the field of use of the microspheres.