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Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Liquid-cell Transmission Electron Microscopy for Tracking Self-assembly of Nanoparticles
Published on: October 16, 2017
Cellular uptake of PLA nanoparticles studied by light and electron microscopy: synthesis, characterization and
Martin Reifarth1, David Pretzel2, Stephanie Schubert3
1Laboratory of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry (IOMC), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Humboldtstr. 10, D-07743 Jena, Germany. s.hoeppener@uni-jena.de ulrich.schubert@uni-jena.de and Jena Center for Soft Matter (JCSM), Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Philosophenweg 7, D-07743 Jena, Germany and Institute of Physical Chemistry and Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Helmholtzweg 4, D-07743 Jena, Germany. rainer.heintzmann@uni-jena.de and Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Albert-Einstein-Straße 9, D-07745 Jena, Germany.
Abstract:
We present the synthesis of polylactide by ring-opening polymerization using a luminescent iridium(III) complex acting as initiator. The polymer was formulated into nanoparticles, which were taken up by HEK-293 cells. We could show that the particles provided an appropriate contrast in both superresolution fluorescence and electron microscopy, and, moreover, are non-toxic, in contrast to the free iridium complex.

