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AOBPreview originally published online on November 11, 2007
Annals of Botany 2008 101(1):187-195; doi:10.1093/aob/mcm283
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

TECHNICAL ARTICLE

Nanoparticles as Smart Treatment-delivery Systems in Plants: Assessment of Different Techniques of Microscopy for their Visualization in Plant Tissues

P. González-Melendi1,{dagger},{ddagger}, R. Fernández-Pacheco2,{dagger}, M. J. Coronado1, E. Corredor1, P. S. Testillano1, M. C. Risueño1, C. Marquina1, M. R. Ibarra2,3, D. Rubiales4 and A. Pérez-de-Luque4,*

1 Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC, Ramiro de Maeztu 9, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
2 Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragón, Universidad de Zaragoza, Edificio Interfacultativo II, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
3 Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón-Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, CSIC-Unversidad de Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009-Zaragoza, Spain
4 CSIC, Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible, Alameda del Obispo s/n, Apdo. 4084, E-14080 Córdoba, Spain

* For correspondence. E-mail bb2pelua{at}uco.es

Received: 31 July 2007    Returned for revision: 3 September 2007    Accepted: 20 September 2007    Published electronically: 12 November 2007

Background and Aims: The great potential of using nanodevices as delivery systems to specific targets in living organisms was first explored for medical uses. In plants, the same principles can be applied for a broad range of uses, in particular to tackle infections. Nanoparticles tagged to agrochemicals or other substances could reduce the damage to other plant tissues and the amount of chemicals released into the environment. To explore the benefits of applying nanotechnology to agriculture, the first stage is to work out the correct penetration and transport of the nanoparticles into plants. This research is aimed (a) to put forward a number of tools for the detection and analysis of core-shell magnetic nanoparticles introduced into plants and (b) to assess the use of such magnetic nanoparticles for their concentration in selected plant tissues by magnetic field gradients.

Methods Cucurbita pepo: plants were cultivated in vitro and treated with carbon-coated Fe nanoparticles. Different microscopy techniques were used for the detection and analysis of these magnetic nanoparticles, ranging from conventional light microscopy to confocal and electron microscopy.

Key Results: Penetration and translocation of magnetic nanoparticles in whole living plants and into plant cells were determined. The magnetic character allowed nanoparticles to be positioned in the desired plant tissue by applying a magnetic field gradient there; also the graphitic shell made good visualization possible using different microscopy techniques.

Conclusions: The results open a wide range of possibilities for using magnetic nanoparticles in general plant research and agronomy. The nanoparticles can be charged with different substances, introduced within the plants and, if necessary, concentrated into localized areas by using magnets. Also simple or more complex microscopical techniques can be used in localization studies.

Key words: Nanotechnology, nanoparticles, drug delivery, smart delivery systems, microscopy techniques

{dagger} Both authors contributed equally to this work.

{ddagger} Present address: Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S. Ingenieros Agrónomos, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040-Madrid, Spain.


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