CdSe/ZnS fluorescent nanoparticles as nanoprobes of local pH in diagnostics of oncology

We discuss the fluorescence spectra from a set of points in histological sections of colon tissue with different levels of pathology that were stained with hydrophilic semiconductor CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles that were modified by a unique method at the phase interface. The shifts in the fluorescence spectra that were recorded for stained cells at different pathologies are described using the electrochromism of the nanoparticles. Aqueous solutions of the CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles with different pH values are used as systems that model the acidity of a biological medium. It has been shown that the shifts of the fluorescence bands of the CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles are caused by a change in the local electrical field that is induced by solvated ions near their surface at different pH values of the solutions. The application of the CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles as nanoprobes for the local pH in biological tissue is discussed in the context of this model.