Selective light-triggered release of DNA from gold nanorods switches blood clotting on and off
Blood clotting is a precise cascade engineered to form a clot with temporal and spatial control. Current control of blood clotting is achieved predominantly by anticoagulants and thus inherently one-sided. Here we use a pair of nanorods (NRs) to provide a two-way switch for the blood clotting cascad...
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Published in | PloS one Vol. 8; no. 7; p. e68511 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Public Library of Science
24.07.2013
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Blood clotting is a precise cascade engineered to form a clot with temporal and spatial control. Current control of blood clotting is achieved predominantly by anticoagulants and thus inherently one-sided. Here we use a pair of nanorods (NRs) to provide a two-way switch for the blood clotting cascade by utilizing their ability to selectively release species on their surface under two different laser excitations. We selectively trigger release of a thrombin binding aptamer from one nanorod, inhibiting blood clotting and resulting in increased clotting time. We then release the complementary DNA as an antidote from the other NR, reversing the effect of the aptamer and restoring blood clotting. Thus, the nanorod pair acts as an on/off switch. One challenge for nanobiotechnology is the bio-nano interface, where coronas of weakly adsorbed proteins can obscure biomolecular function. We exploit these adsorbed proteins to increase aptamer and antidote loading on the nanorods. |
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Bibliography: | Current address: Massachusetts Institutes of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Massachusetts, United States of America Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Conceived and designed the experiments: HdP KHS SHB. Performed the experiments: HdP ACR DF. Analyzed the data: HdP ACR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HdP ACR DF. Wrote the paper: HdP KHS. Current address: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, United States of America |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0068511 |