Fig. 3

Comparison analysis for the intracellular uptake and targeting potential of bPAuNC and pPAuNC. Fluorescence microscopic images of MCF7 (low MT1-MMP expression) and MDA-MB-231 (high MT1-MMP expression) breast cancer cell line incubated for 10 h with a bPAuNC and b pPAuNC. Magnified region depicted in the white dashed-line box and scale bars are 100 µm. c Quantification graph for the fluorescence intensity measured from confocal microscopic images for d MCF7 and e MDA-MB-231 cells treated with bPAuNC or pPAuNC (red); MT1-MMP (green) and Hoechst33342 (blue). Scale bars are 50 µm. Co-localization analysis between MT1-MMP (green) and bPAuNC or pPAuNC (red) in MCF7 f and MDA-MB-231 g were depicted as scatterplots. Pearson’s coefficient and correlation values were generated using ImageJ; Slope, Rcoloc, %Volume, and Ncoloc