A New Theranostic System Based on Gold Nanocages and Phase-Change Materials with Unique Features for Photoacoustic Imaging and Controlled Release

Abstract

This communication reports a new theranostic system with a combination of capabilities to both enhance the contrast of photoacoustic (PA) imaging and control the release of a chemical or biological effecter by high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). The fabrication of this system simply involves filling the hollow interiors of gold nanocages with a phase-change material (PCM) such as 1-tetradecanol that has a melting point of 38–39 °C. The PCM can be pre-mixed and thus loaded with a dye, as well as other chemical or biological effecters. When exposed to direct heating or HIFU, the PCM will melt and escape from the interiors of nanocages through small pores on the surface, concurrently releasing the encapsulated molecules into the surrounding medium. We can control the release profile by varying the power of HIFU, the duration of exposure to HIFU, or both.

Colloidal RBC‐Shaped, Hydrophilic, and Hollow Mesoporous Carbon Nanocapsules for Highly Efficient Biomedical Engineering

“…This HIFU-responsive pulse drug releasing behavior is very favorable for the on-demand drug release because of the fact that the focused ultrasound is noninvasive and it can penetrate into deep-seated tumor tissues. [ 16 ] Therefore, such a novel framework interaction-based stimuliresponsive nanosystem allows the real-time control of on demand drug release corresponding to the inner physiological alterations and/or external trigger actions, which is greatly favorable for circumventing the side toxic effects of the administrated chemodrugs due to their non-specifi city of common drugs to tumors.…”

Functionalization of a Triazine Dendrimer Presenting Four Maleimides on the Periphery and a DOTA Group at the Core

“…Theranostic nanoparticles elaborate this design with materials that can offer multivalent displays of the therapeutic and/or diagnostic agent(s), as well as leverage additional properties conveyed with size, including changes in biodistribution and targeting. Theranostic nanoparticles come in many varieties including magnetic [7], silica [8][9][10], gold/quantum dots [11][12][13], graphene [14], liposomal [15,16], and polymeric [17,18]. Dendritic materials offer a compelling platform in this area [19,20] given the opportunity to exquisitely control chemistry to manipulate any number of properties displayed across multiple nanoparticle classes, so-called nanoperiodicity [21][22][23], including size, ligand density and solubility.…”

The Effect of Laser Power on Photothermoacoustic Imaging of Blood Containing Gold Nanoparticles and Deoxygenation using a Frequency-Domain Phased Array Probe: An In-vitro Assay

“…The medical imaging modality employed for detection of malignant tumors in organs such as breast cancer should provide high-specificity to cancer and high resolution for early In situ detection [18]. Since, the main strength of PAI is its ability to obtain functional, anatomical and molecular information in real-time with a high resolution at clinically relevant depths, therefore either endogenous biomolecules such as hemoglobin, melanin and carotonoids or exogenous contrast agents such as indocyanine green [19], nanoparticles [20,21], nanoshells [22,23], nanorods [24,25], nanocages [26,27], and nanodiamonds [28] can be employed for image enhancement. However, as it will be discussed, for in vivo applications the nanostructures must be active targeted by conjugating them with suitable moieties e.g., antibodies, peptides or folates to prevent from protein adsorption and aggregation.…”