PET and NIR optical imaging using self-illuminating (64)Cu-doped chelator-free gold nanoclusters

Self-illuminating fluorescence imaging without autofluorescence background interference has recently aroused more research interests in molecular imaging. Currently, only a few self-illuminating probes were developed, based mainly on toxic quantum dots such as CdSe, CdTe. Herein, we report a novel d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomaterials 2014-12, Vol.35 (37), p.9868
Main Authors: Hu, Hao, Huang, Peng, Weiss, Orit Jacobson, Yan, Xuefeng, Yue, Xuyi, Zhang, Molly Gu, Tang, Yuxia, Nie, Liming, Ma, Ying, Niu, Gang, Wu, Kaichun, Chen, Xiaoyuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Cell Line, Tumor
Copper - chemistry
Glioblastoma - diagnosis
Gold - chemistry
Humans
Infrared Rays
Isotopes
Mice
Nanostructures - chemistry
Optical Imaging - methods
Positron-Emission Tomography - methods
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Summary:Self-illuminating fluorescence imaging without autofluorescence background interference has recently aroused more research interests in molecular imaging. Currently, only a few self-illuminating probes were developed, based mainly on toxic quantum dots such as CdSe, CdTe. Herein, we report a novel design of nontoxic self-illuminating gold nanocluster ((64)Cu-doped AuNCs) for dual-modality positron emission tomography (PET) and near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging based on Cerenkov resonance energy transfer (CRET). PET radionuclide (64)Cu was introduced by a chelator-free doping method, which played dual roles as the energy donor and the PET imaging source. Meanwhile, AuNCs acted as the energy acceptor for NIR fluorescence imaging. (64)Cu-doped AuNCs exhibited efficient CRET-NIR and PET imaging both in vitro and in vivo. In a U87MG glioblastoma xenograft model, (64)Cu-doped AuNCs showed high tumor uptake (14.9 %ID/g at 18 h) and produced satisfactory tumor self-illuminating NIR images in the absence of external excitation. This self-illuminating nanocluster with non-toxicity and good biocompatibility can be employed as a novel imaging contrast agent for biomedical applications, especially for molecular imaging.
ISSN:1878-5905
DOI:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.08.038