Polymersomes and Wormlike Micelles Made Fluorescent by Direct Modifications of Block Copolymer Amphiphiles
Figure 4
Dye retention and intracellular tracking of polymer assemblies. (a) The plot shows the retention and release of fluorophores from PCL-b-PEO assemblies as a function of time. While PCL-rhodamine shows no release, DiI is gradually released with time. (b) Covalent conjugation of dyes to polymers enables their in vivo tracking via fluoroscence microscopy. The image shows cell internalization of PCL-b-PEO vesicles incorporating 5% PCL-rhodamine. The cell membrane is indicated with broken white lines and the vesicles are shown in red. (c) When the lipophilic dye, DiI, is used for labeling PCL-b-PEO vesicles, it is transferred to the cell membranes (green). Scale bar is 10 m.
