International Journal of Nanomedicine (Jan 2020)
DTPAA-Gd Functionalized Ultrasmall Au15NCs Nanohybrids for Multimodal Imaging
Abstract
Minghao Wu, 1,* Yanyan Zhang, 1, 2,* Na Zhuo, 3 Mingjie Wu, 4 Zhaoxiang Ye, 1 Xuening Zhang 2 1Department of Radiology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin 300060, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiology, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Ultrasound, Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, People’s Republic of China; 4Institut National De La Recherche Scientifique-Energie Materiaux Et Telecommunications, Varennes,Quebec J3X 1S2, Canada*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhaoxiang Ye; Xuening Zhang Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Multimodal imaging agent has the potential to overcome the shortage and incorporate the advantages of different imaging tools for extremely sensitive diagnosis. To achieve multimodal imaging, combining multiple contrast agents into a special nanostructure has become a main strategy; However, the combination of all of these functions into one nanoplatform usually requires a complicated synthetic procedure that results in heterogeneous nanostructure.Methods: In this study, we develop ultrasmall gold nanoclusters with 15 gold atoms (Au 15NCs) functionalized with diethylenetriamine-pentaacetic acid dianhydride (DTPAA-Gd) as an optimized multimodal imaging agent to enhance imaging ability.Results: The Au 15NCs-DTPAA-Gd nanohybrids possess the ultra-small size and are capable of enhancing the contrast in near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF), magnetic resonance (MR) and X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging. Meanwhile, the integrated DTPAA-Gd component not only endow the nanohybrids to produce higher T 1 relaxivity (r 1 = 21.4 mM− 1 s− 1) than Omnipaque (r 1 = 3.973 mM− 1s− 1) but also further enhance X-ray attenuation property of Au 15NCs. Importantly, the fluorescence intensity of Au 15NCs-DTPAA-Gd did not decrease compared with Au 15NCs. Ultimately, in vivo imaging experiments have demonstrated that Au 15NCs-DTPAA-Gd nanohybrids can be quickly eliminated from the body through the urinary system and has great potential for anatomical imaging.Conclusion: These data manifest Au 15NCs-DTPAA-Gd present great potential as a multimodal contrast agent for disease diagnosis, especially for early accurate detection of tumors.Keywords: multimodal imaging, ultrasmall gold nanoclusters, magnetic resonance imaging, near-infrared fluorescence, X-ray computed tomography
