Biodistribution and sensitive tracking of immune cells with plasmonic gold nanostars

Abstract

Yang Liu,1,* Wei Huang,2,* Chuanfeng Xiong,2 Yuxian Huang,2 Benny J Chen,2,3 Luigi Racioppi,2,4 Nelson Chao,2,3 Tuan Vo-Dinh1,3,5–61Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA; 2Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA; 3Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA; 4Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy; 5Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA; 6Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA*These authors contributed equally to this work Aim: To quantitatively and sensitively investigate the biodistribution of immune cells after systemic administration.Methods: Immune cells were loaded with plasmonic gold nanostars (GNS) tracking probes. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used for quantitative gold mass measurement and two-photon photoluminescence (TPL) was used for high-resolution sensitive optical imaging.Results: GNS nanoparticles were loaded successfully into immune cells without negative effect on cellular vitality. Liver and spleen were identified to be the major organs for macrophage cells uptake after systematic administration. A small amount of macrophage cells were detected in the tumor site in our murine lymphoma animal model.Conclusion: GNS has great potential as a biocompatible marker for quantitative tracking and high-resolution imaging of immune cells at the cellular level.Keywords: GNS, ICP-MS, two-photon microscopy, immune cells, biodistribution  

Keywords

• GNS
• ICP-MS
• Two-photon microscopy
• Immune cells
• Biodistribution