Figure 9.

CDs-based targeted bioimaging by self-targeting. (A) Schematic and hypothetical steps of LAAM TC-CQD synthesis. (B) Fluorescence emission spectrum with an excitation wavelength of 600 nm. (C) LCSM images of HeLa cells that were pretreated with Leu, Phe, Gly or BCH. (D)-(F) Downregulation of LAT1 expression by CRISPR-Cas9 in HeLa cells reduced the cellular uptake of LAAM TC-CQDs (F). The red arrows in b indicate the sgRNA-targeting sequences. Successful targeting of LAT1 was confirmed using Sanger sequencing (D) and western-blot analysis (E). Adapted with permission from ²⁰¹, copyright 2020 Springer Nature.