Development of a Novel Sulfur Quantum Dots: Synthesis, 99mTc Radiolabeling, and Biodistribution

Seyedeh Mozhdeh Mirzaei; Reza Kazemi Oskuee; Kayvan Sadri; Zahra Sabouri; Bahareh Farasati Far; Hadi Sajid Abdulabbas; Majid Darroudi

doi:10.1007/s12010-023-04703-7

Development of a Novel Sulfur Quantum Dots: Synthesis, ^99mTc Radiolabeling, and Biodistribution

Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 2023 Aug 31. doi: 10.1007/s12010-023-04703-7. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Seyedeh Mozhdeh Mirzaei¹, Reza Kazemi Oskuee¹, Kayvan Sadri², Zahra Sabouri¹, Bahareh Farasati Far³, Hadi Sajid Abdulabbas⁴, Majid Darroudi⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Biotechnology & Nanotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
² Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
³ Department of Chemistry, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Continuous Education Department, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Al-Ameed, Karbala, 56001, Iraq.
⁵ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran. darroudim@mums.ac.ir.

PMID: 37650949
DOI: 10.1007/s12010-023-04703-7

Abstract

Sulfur quantum dots (SQDs) as free heavy metal element quantum dots have promising applications in diagnosis and therapy; however, SQDs' in vivo biodistribution has not been studied. In the current study, SQDs were synthesized directly from cheap sublimated sulfur powder via a one-pot solvothermal method, and sucrose was used as a stabilizer to enhance stability and biocompatibility. The as-obtained SQDs with an average size of 4.6 nm exhibited great water dispersity, highly favorable quantum yield (21.5%), and uniformly spherical shape which were confirmed by UV-Vis, fluorescence spectrophotometer, TEM, and FESEM/EDX/PSA analyses. Moreover, the as-synthesized SQDs had very low cytotoxicity based on cancer (C26) and normal (L929) cell lines via MTT assay. And also, SQDs were radio-labeled directly by Technetium-99m (^99mTc), which had good stability ranging from 86 to 99% in PBS and human serum. The SQDs' cell uptake on C26 and L929 cell lines demonstrated that cancer cells had more uptake than normal cells by increasing concentrations. Moreover, SQDs' in vivo biodistribution results displayed high kidney dose accumulation and rapid renal clearance, making them suitable for imaging and therapeutic applications.

Keywords: Biodistribution; Cytotoxicity; Radiolabeling; Solvothermal; Sulfur quantum dots.