Nanoparticles for multi-modality cancer diagnosis: Simple protocol for self-assembly of gold nanoclusters mediated by gadolinium ions. (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hou, Wenxiu; Xia, Fangfang; Alfranca, Gabriel; Yan, Hao; Zhi, Xiao; Liu, Yanlei; Peng, Chen; Zhang, Chunlei; de la Fuente, Jesus Martinez; Cui, Daxiang
• Is Part Of: Biomaterials. Volume 120(2017)
• Page Start: 103
• Page End: 114
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: Gold nanoclusters (GNCs) -- Gd3+ ions -- Assembly -- Multi-modality imaging -- Diagnosis; Biomedical materials -- Periodicals; Biocompatible Materials -- Periodicals; Biomatériaux -- Périodiques; 610.28
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2016.12.027
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-9612

Abstract

Abstract: It is essential to develop a simple synthetic strategy to improve the quality of multifunctional contrast agents for cancer diagnosis. Herein, we report a time-saving method for gadolinium (Gd 3+ ) ions-mediated self-assembly of gold nanoclusters (GNCs) into monodisperse spherical nanoparticles (GNCNs) under mild conditions. The monodisperse, regular and colloidal stable GNCNs were formed via selectively inducing electrostatic interactions between negatively-charged carboxylic groups of gold nanoclusters and trivalent cations of gadolinium in aqueous solution. In this way, the Gd 3+ ions were chelated into GNCNs without the use of molecular gadolinium chelates. With the co-existence of GNCs and Gd 3+ ions, the formed GNCNs exhibit significant luminescence intensity enhancement for near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging, high X-ray attenuation for computed tomography (CT) imaging and reasonable r1 relaxivity for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The excellent biocompatibility of the GNCNs was proved both in vitro and in vivo . Meanwhile, the GNCNs also possess unique NIRF/CT/MR imaging ability in A549 tumor-bearing mice. In a nutshell, the simple and safe GNCNs hold great potential for tumor multi-modality clinical diagnosis.