Folding Up of Gold Nanoparticle Strings into Plasmonic Vesicles for Enhanced Photoacoustic Imaging

Abstract

We report a stepwise self-assembly of hollow plasmonic vesicles containing strings of gold nanoparticles (NPs) in vesicular membranes. The formation of chain vesicles can be controlled by tuning the density of polymer ligands on the surface of gold NPs. The strong absorption of chain vesicles in the near-infrared (NIR) range led to a much higher efficiency in photoacoustic (PA) imaging than non-chain vesicles. The chain vesicles were further demonstrated for the encapsulation of drugs and NIR light-triggered release of payloads. This work not only offers a new platform for controlling the hierarchical self-assembly of NPs, but also demonstrates that the control over the spatial arrangement of NPs within the assemblies enables us to tailor the physical properties of the materials for better performance in biomedical applications.

Light-responsive nanomedicine for biophotonic imaging and targeted therapy

“…On the other hand, metal-based, carbon-based, and polymer-based NPs can improve optical properties including photostability, while potential toxicity is the major concern for their clinical use. Liu et al proved that an orderly arrangement of small gold NPs on larger vesicles can generate an enhanced PA effect [82]. They synthesized 13 nm block copolymer-modified gold NPs and assembled them precisely to generate hollow vesicles with strings of gold NPs on the surface, thereby generating strong coupling, which resulted in enhanced NIR absorption.…”

“…They synthesized 13 nm block copolymer-modified gold NPs and assembled them precisely to generate hollow vesicles with strings of gold NPs on the surface, thereby generating strong coupling, which resulted in enhanced NIR absorption. After subcutaneous injection into the flanks of mice and irradiation using a pulsed laser at 780 nm, these chain vesicles enhanced the PA signal about 8-fold compared to the control non-chain vesicles [82]. …”

Antitumor therapeutic application of self-assembled RNAi-AuNP nanoconstructs: Combination of VEGF-RNAi and photothermal ablation

“…In addition to being therapeutic agents, there has been a recent approach to utilize nucleic acids as highly efficacious biopolymers such as building blocks to assemble sophisticated and biocompatible nano-assemblies 13, 14. Alongside this approach, through integration of inorganic nano-materials with nucleic acids to obtain biologically beneficial functions, biomedical benefits will be strengthened by nucleic acids mediated self-assemblies such as coupled plasmons and hyperthermia by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) 15-17. For example, nucleic acid-modified AuNPs technique was made famous by Chad Mirkin's break-through studies 18.…”

Quantitative Analysis of Caspase-1 Activity in Living Cells Through Dynamic Equilibrium of Chlorophyll-Based Nano-assembly Modulated Photoacoustic Signals

“…However, investigations on understanding of dynamic equilibrium of assemblies and design guideline of building blocks for controlled super-structures with desired properties in physiological environment remains a bottleneck for in-depth application. 7 As a non-invasive laser-induced technique, [8][9][10] photoacoustic tomography (PAT, also called optoacoustic tomography) have been widely used for imaging blood vessels, 9 tumors [11][12] or organs, [13][14] which can generate real-time, [15][16] high resolution scans 10,17 and 3D reconstructions. 13,18 Thus, besides of spectrum signals, [19][20][21] PA provides us a possibility for in situ monitoring the aggregation process of small molecules.…”