Quantitative biodistribution of nanoparticles in plants with lanthanide complexes

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Nanotechnology
• Plant Biology

Background:

• Inefficient agrochemical distribution reduces crop yields and pollutes the environment.
• Nanoformulations offer targeted delivery but lipid nanoparticles are underutilized in agriculture.
• A systematic method is needed to screen and identify effective lipid nanoparticle formulations for plants.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a quantitative metal-encoded platform for assessing lipid nanoparticle biodistribution in plant tissues.
• To evaluate the efficacy of lipid nanoparticles as carriers for agrochemicals.
• To facilitate the discovery of plant tissue-targeting nanoparticle delivery systems.

Main Methods:

• Encapsulation of lanthanide metal complexes into four distinct lipid nanoparticle formulations.
• Development of a quantitative metal-encoded platform to track nanoparticle accumulation.
• Analysis of lanthanide payload distribution across plant roots, stems, and leaves.

Main Results:

• The platform successfully quantified payload accumulation for all tested lipid formulations in various plant tissues.
• Nanoparticle-encapsulated lanthanides showed significantly higher accumulation in stems (100- to 10,000-fold) and leaves (20- to 57-fold) compared to free lanthanides.
• Demonstrated the potential of lipid nanoparticles for targeted delivery within plants.

Conclusions:

• The developed metal-encoded platform enables efficient biodistribution analysis of lipid nanoparticles in plants.
• This system is crucial for discovering and optimizing lipid nanoparticles for agricultural applications.
• The findings support the use of lipid nanoparticles to enhance agrochemical delivery, efficiency, and reduce environmental pollution.