Fig. 3
Selective cell uptake of CL4 and/or Gint4.T-decorated Iren-AuSiO2_Aptamer nanoplatforms in 2D cultures. Representative confocal images of A MDA-MB-231 and BT-549 (EGFR+/PDGFRβ+), and MCF7 (EGFR−/PDGFRβ−) cells, B A431 (EGFR+/PDGFRβ−) cells, and C MSCs (EGFR−/PDGFRβ+) cells, incubated with Iren-AuSiO2_Aptamer or unconjugated Iren-AuSiO2_COOH/NHS nanoparticles at 37 °C for the indicated times. After washing and fixation, cells were labeled with NucRed (blue) to stain nuclei, and nanoparticles are displayed in red. Magnification: 63 × , 1.0 × digital zoom, scale bar = 10 μm. All digital images were captured under the same settings to enable a direct comparison of staining patterns. A-C Mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) was quantified using Zeiss software on at least ten separate images for each condition. Bars depict means ± SD (n = 3). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 relative to Iren-AuSiO2_Scr; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, ###p < 0.001, ####p < 0.0001