Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: In vivo cation exchange in quantum dots for tumor-specific imaging

doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00153-y

Figure Lengend Snippet: Breast tumor-specific imaging achieved by extravascular delivery of etchable ZHS-QDs. Mice bearing orthotopic MCF10CA1a human breast tumors received an intravenous injection of iRGD or PBS before an intravenous dose of ZHS-QDs. Ag-TS was given intraperitoneally. n = 4 per group. a The mice were anesthetized and imaged with a Li-Cor Pearl imager 40 min after etching. Arrows , tumors. b In situ NIR imaging of the mice after euthanasia and necropsy performed under deep anesthesia. c NIR images of collected tissues. d NIR signal per unit area in collected tissues ( left panel ) and T/Li ratio ( right panel ). B, brain; H, heart; Li, liver; S, spleen; Lu, lung; K, kidney; T, tumor. Statistics, two-way analysis of variance ( left panel ) or Student’s t -test ( right panel ); error bars , SEM; ns, not significant; * P < 0.05; *** P < 0.001. e Confocal micrographs of cultured MCF10CA1a cells treated with ZHS-QDs with or without free iRGD followed by etching with Ag-TS. Note that the QDs were internalized into the cells in the presence of iRGD, and that only the extracellular QDs were etched. Blue, Hoechst 33342; green, ZHS-QDs; scale bars , 50 μm. Insets show a magnified view of the boxed areas . f Epifluorescence micrographs of cultured PC-3 human prostate cancer cells treated with cell-penetrating QDs followed by etching with Ag-TS. PC-3 cells were incubated with CdSe/ZnS QDs coated with a cell-penetrating peptide KCDGRPARPAR. Only speckled peri-nuclear signals remain after etching. Scale bars , 50 µm. g The tumors shown in c were processed for immunofluorescence staining and subjected to confocal microscopy. Blue , DAPI; red , CD31 or α-SMA; green , ZHS-QDs; scale bars , 50 μm. The boxed area is magnified. Note that the QD signals are found in the perinuclear area of the cells

Article Snippet: Tissue sections were treated with 0.25% Triton X-100 for 10 min, washed with PBS 3 times, blocked with 1% bovine serum albumin for 1 h, and incubated with a rat anti-mouse CD31 primary antibody (Catalog number: 553370, BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA), rabbit anti-mouse α-SMA antibody (Product code: ab5694, Abcam, Cambridge, MA), or a rat anti-mouse ER-TR7 antibody (Catalog number: sc-73355, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX) at 4 °C overnight.

Techniques: Imaging, Injection, In Situ, Cell Culture, Incubation, Immunofluorescence, Staining, Confocal Microscopy

Journal: Nature Communications

Article Title: In vivo cation exchange in quantum dots for tumor-specific imaging

doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00153-y

Figure Lengend Snippet: Desmoplastic PDAC imaging with etchable ZHS-QDs. a H&E staining of orthotopic KRAS-Ink tumor tissue collected from mice. A mixed histology ranging from pancreas tissue with severe desmoplasia, high-grade PanIN, to full-blown PDAC is observed. n = 3, scale bars , 100 μm. b – e Mice bearing orthotopic KRAS-Ink PDAC tumors received intravenous injections of iRGD or PBS 25 min before ZHS-QD injection. Ag-TS was intravenously injected 30 min after the QD injection. n = 3 per group. NIR images of anesthetized mice b and collected tissues c . Arrows , tumors; dotted lines , tissues. B, brain; H, heart; Li, liver; S, spleen; Lu, lung; K, kidney; T, tumor. NIR signal per unit area in collected tissues ( left panel ) and T/Li ratio ( right panel ) d . Statistics, two-way analysis of variance ( left panel ) or Student’s t -test ( right panel ); error bars , SEM; ns, not significant; * P < 0.05; *** P < 0.001. Confocal micrographs of tumor sections e . Blue , DAPI; red , CD31, ER-TR7 or α-SMA; green , ZHS-QDs; scale bars , 50 μm; P stands for PanIN. Inset , an area with PanINs

Article Snippet: Tissue sections were treated with 0.25% Triton X-100 for 10 min, washed with PBS 3 times, blocked with 1% bovine serum albumin for 1 h, and incubated with a rat anti-mouse CD31 primary antibody (Catalog number: 553370, BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA), rabbit anti-mouse α-SMA antibody (Product code: ab5694, Abcam, Cambridge, MA), or a rat anti-mouse ER-TR7 antibody (Catalog number: sc-73355, Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX) at 4 °C overnight.

Techniques: Imaging, Staining, Injection

Journal: Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica

Article Title: Low levels of PRSS37 protein in sperm are associated with many cases of unexplained male infertility.

doi: 10.1093/abbs/gmw096

Figure Lengend Snippet: Figure 4. Sperm with low PRSS37 contents exhibit abnormal activation of the proacrosin/acrosin system and premature proteolysis of ADAM2 ACROSIN immunoblotting detected proacrosin bands (55 kDa) in sperm from men with PF with high PRSS37 content (N1–N3) but not in sperm from patients with UMI with low PRSS37 content (L1–L4). ADAM2 immunoblotting detected only the precursor form (98 kDa or 72 kDa) in sperm from men with PF with high PRSS37 content (N1–N3), whereas only the mature form (44 kDa) existed in sperm from patients with UMI with low PRSS37 content (L1–L4). The sizes of specific protein bands are marked on the right.

Article Snippet: Antibodies used were rabbit polyclonal antibody raised against PRSS37 (1:1000 dilution, code HPA020541; Sigma), ADAM2 (1:1000 dilution, code HPA024621; Sigma), ACROSIN (1:1000 dilution, code SC-67151; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, USA), and mouse monoclonal antibody against GAPDH (1:10,000 dilution, code KC-5G4; Kangchen, Shanghai, China).

Techniques: Activation Assay, Western Blot