Figure 5.
Second purification of cancer cells (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, HCT116 and HT-29) from microbeads via enzyme-induced gelatin degradation. TEM images of (A) a gelatin nanoparticle-coated silica microbead (SiO2@Gel MB) and (B) a SiO2@Gel MB after gelatin degradation induced by the MMP-9 enzyme. (C-D) Microscopic images of specifically captured MCF-7 cells purified from microbeads after MMP-9 treatment. (A, B, scale bar, 50 nm; C, D, scale bar, 50 μm). (E) Recovery efficiency of MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, HCT116 and HT-29 cells after purification from microbeads. (F) The bright-field and corresponding fluorescence images of the cultured cells from day 1 to day 5 after the cell capture-release cycle. The scale bar is 20 μm. (G) Viability of cancer cells after the cell capture-purification cycle. Error bars represent the standard deviations (n≥3).