@article{Perez-Garrido2023, 
author = {Laura Perez-Garrido and Mariano Ortega-Muñoz and Fernando Hernandez-Mateo and F. Javier Lopez-Jaramillo and Francisco Santoyo-Gonzalez},
title = {Turning carbon dots into selenium bearing nanoplatforms with in vitro    GPx-like activity and pro-oxidant activity},
year = {2023},
journal = {Nano Research},
volume = {16},
number = {5},
pages = {7784-7791},
keywords = {selenium nanoparticles, carbon dots, glutathione peroxidase-like activity, Janus element, nanomedicine},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s12274-023-5442-3},
doi = {10.1007/s12274-023-5442-3},
abstract = {Selenium (Se) has been defined as the “Janus element”, with one face showing antioxidant activity and the other pro-oxidant activity. The biological effect of Se depends on both dose and speciation. Se nanoparticles are attracting major interest, although their large-scale preparation for biomedical applications is not trivial. We hypothesize that acid anhydride-coated carbon dots (AA-CD) are an attractive platform for preparing nanoparticles containing chemically defined Se. The reaction of AA-CD with 3-selenocyanatopropan-1-amine yields carbon dots bearing selenocyanate and carboxylate groups (CD-SeCN) that allow for tuning the hydrosolubility. CD-SeCN has a Se content of 0.36 µmol per mg of nanoparticles, and they show the typical photoluminescence of carbon dots. The selenocyanate groups (SeCN) exhibited glutathione peroxidase-like activity and cytotoxicity. Data show that antioxidant behavior differs between normal and tumor cells, and the evaluation on HEK293 and A549 cells reveals that the toxicity of CD-SeCN depends on dose, time, and intracellular glutathione (GSH) content. The toxicity of CD-SeCN decreases with the time of incubation and the cell death mechanism switches from necrosis to apoptosis, indicating that CD-SeCN is neutralized. Additionally, high levels of intracellular GSH exert a protective effect. These results support a pharmacological potential in cancers with low levels of intracellular GSH. The use of AA-CD as nanoplatforms is a general strategy that paves the way for the engineering of advanced nanosystems.}
}