International Journal of Nanomedicine (Sep 2019)
Breakthroughs in medicine and bioimaging with up-conversion nanoparticles
Abstract
Iman Rostami,1,2 Hamideh Rezvani Alanagh,2 Zhiyuan Hu,2,3 Sarah H Shahmoradian1 1Laboratory of Biomolecular Research, Department of Biology and Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, PSI 5232, Switzerland; 2CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China, Beijing 100190, People’s Republic of China; 3Center for Neuroscience Research, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province 350108, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Iman RostamiPaul Scherrer Institute, OFLC/110, Forschungsstrasse 111, Villigen, PSI 5232, SwitzerlandTel +41 56 310 3309Email [email protected]: Nanomedicine is a medical application of biochemistry incorporated with materials chemistry at the scale of nanometer for the purpose of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. New models and approaches are typically associated with nanomedicine for precise multifunctional diagnostic systems at molecular level. Hence, employing nanoparticles (NPs) has unveiled new opportunities for efficient therapies and remedy of difficult-to-cure diseases. Among all types of inorganic NPs, lanthanide-doped up-conversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have shown excellent potential for biomedical applications, especially for multimodal bioimaging including fluorescence and electron microscopy. Association of these visualization techniques plus the capability for transporting biomaterials and drugs make them superior agents in the field of nanomedicine. Accordingly, in this review, we firstly presented a fundamental understanding of physical and optical properties of UCNPs and secondly, we illustrated some of the prominent associations with bioimaging, theranostics, cancer therapy, and optogenetics.Keywords: up-conversion nanoparticles, bioimaging, theranostics, therapy
