Photoluminescent arginine-functionalized polycitrate with enhanced cell activity and hemocompatibility for live cell bioimaging

Development of biodegradable and highly biocompatible polymer with intrinsical photoluminescence and high photostability for real-time live cell bioimaging has attracted much attention recently. Here, a biodegradable and amphiphilic poly (citrate)-co-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafted with arginine (PCGA) polymer with intrinsical fluorescence was synthesized for targeted live cell bioimaging. The physicochemical structure, photoluminescent properties, hemocompatibility, cytotoxicity, and fluorescent bioimaging studies in live cells were determined in detail. PCGA showed a significantly high hemocompatibility, low cytotoxicity, and excellent photostability, which allows for imaging the live cells attachment and proliferation. Furthermore, PCGA could efficiently enhance cell attachment and proliferation due to the presence of arginine, suggesting their high cellular biocompatibility. Importantly, PCGA could selectively stain the lysosome in cells. Our results demonstrated that the amino acid-based polymer functionalization may be an important strategy to develop multifunctional biomaterials with enhanced biocompatibility for targeted bioimaging, cancer therapy, and regenerative medicine.