The unique properties of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) facilitate them to be good candidates for cell and animal imaging. In our work, we developed a facile approach to synthesize nano-composites which is composed of UCNPs and bovine serum albumin (BSA). The nano-composites (UCNPs@BSA) exhibited dual fluorescence in the visible range and NIR range simultaneously. The low cytotoxicity of UCNPs and UCNPs@BSA was demonstrated in L02 and HepG-2 cell lines respectively. The cell imaging investigations verified the biological imaging capability of UCNPs@BSA. Furthermore, UCNPs@BSA displayed favorable in vivo imaging capability in tumor-bearing mice. Consequently, the dual fluorescence emission probe was demonstrated to be a promising candidate for cell and tumor imaging.
Keywords: Upconversion Nanoparticles; Low Biotoxicity; Near Infrared Fluorescence; Cell Imaging; In Vivo Imaging.