Targeting of fluorescent palygorskite polyethyleneimine nanocomposite to cancer cells

Palygorskite (Pal), a natural clay mineral, grafted by functional macromolecule polyethyleneimine (PEI) via the coupling grafting method, has further been modified by introducing both fluorescein isothiocyanate (FI) and folic acid (FA), with the aim of specifically targeting and detecting cancer cells. The formed Pal-PEI–FI–FA nanocomposite was nontoxic up to a concentration of 300 μg·mL− 1, and further could be specially taken up by HeLa cells via FA receptor-mediated endocytosis as shown by confocal microscopy and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) data. Therefore, it is concluded that the novel Pal-based nanocomposite has great potential for biomedical sensing, diagnosis, and therapeutics.