Phonon-assisted radiofrequency absorption by gold nanoparticles resulting in hyperthermia

It is suggested that in gold nanoparticles (GNPs) of about 5 nm sizes used in the radiofrequency (RF) hyperthermia, an absorption of the RF photon by the Fermi electron occurs with involvement of the longitudinal acoustic vibrational mode (LAVM), the dominating one in the distribution of vibrational density of states (VDOS). This physical mechanism helps to explain two observed phenomena: the size dependence of the heating rate (HR) in GNPs and reduced heat production in aggregated GNPs. The argumentation proceeds within the one-electron approximation, taking into account the discretenesses of energies and momenta of both electrons and LAVMs. The heating of GNPs is thought to consist of two consecutive processes: first, the Fermi electron absorbs simultaneously the RF photon and the LAVM available in the GNP; hereafter the excited electron gets relaxed within the GNP's boundary, exciting a LAVM with the energy higher than that of the previously absorbed LAVM. GNPs containing the Ta and/or Fe impurities are proposed for the RF hyperthermia as promising heaters with enhanced HRs, and GNPs with rare-earth impurity atoms are also brought into consideration. It is shown why the maximum HR values should be expected in GNPs with about 5-7 nm size.Comment: proceedings at the NATO Advanced Research workshop FANEM-2015 (Minsk, May 25-27, 2015). To be published in the final form in: "Fundamental and Applied NanoElectroMagnetics" (Springer Science + Business Media B.V.

Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Nonlinear photoacoustic signal amplification from single targets in absorption background

AbstractPhotoacoustic (PA) detection of single absorbing targets such as nanoparticles or cells can be limited by absorption background. We show here that this problem can be overcome by using the nonlinear photoacoustics based on the differences in PA signal dependences on the laser energy from targets and background. Among different nonlinear phenomena, we focused on laser generation of nanobubbles as more efficient PA signal amplifiers from strongly absorbing, highly localized targets in the presence of spatially homogenous absorption background generating linear signals only. This approach was demonstrated by using nonlinear PA flow cytometry platform for label-free detection of circulating melanoma cells in blood background in vitro and in vivo. Nonlinearly amplified PA signals from overheated melanin nanoclusters in melanoma cells became detectable above still linear blood background. Nonlinear nanobubble-based photoacoustics provide new opportunities to significantly (5–20-fold) increase PA contrast of single nanoparticles, cells, viruses and bacteria in complex biological environments

Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry for Single Sickle Cell Detection In Vitro and In Vivo

Control of sickle cell disease (SCD) stage and treatment efficiency are still time-consuming which makes well-timed prevention of SCD crisis difficult. We show here that in vivo photoacoustic flow cytometry (PAFC) has a potential for real-time monitoring of circulating sickle cells in mouse model. In vivo data were verified by in vitro PAFC and photothermal (PT) and PA spectral imaging of sickle red blood cells (sRBCs) expressing SCD-associated hemoglobin (HbS) compared to normal red blood cells (nRBCs). We discovered that PT and PA signal amplitudes from sRBCs in linear mode were 2–4-fold lower than those from nRBCs. PT and PA imaging revealed more profound spatial Hb heterogeneity in sRBCs than in nRBCs, which can be associated with the presence of HbS clusters with high local absorption. This hypothesis was confirmed in nonlinear mode through nanobubble formation around overheated HbS clusters accompanied by spatially selective signal amplification. More profound differences in absorption of sRBCs than in nRBCs led to notable increase in PA signal fluctuation (fluctuation PAFC mode) as an indicator of SCD. The obtained data suggest that noninvasive label-free fluctuation PAFC has a potential for real-time enumeration of sRBCs in vitro and in vivo

In Vivo Flow Cytometry of Circulating Tumor-Associated Exosomes

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) demonstrated the potential as prognostic markers of metastatic development. However, the incurable metastasis can already be developed at the time of initial diagnosis with the existing CTC assays. Alternatively, tumor-associated particles (CTPs) including exosomes can be a more valuable prognostic marker because they can be released from the primary tumor long before CTCs and in larger amount. However, little progress has been made in high sensitivity detection of CTPs, especially in vivo. We show here that in vivo integrated photoacoustic (PA) and fluorescence flow cytometry (PAFFC) platform can provide the detection of melanoma and breast-cancer-associated single CTPs with endogenously expressed melanin and genetically engineered proteins or exogenous dyes as PA and fluorescent contrast agents. The two-beam, time-of-light PAFFC can measure the sizes of CTCs and CTPs and identify bulk and rolling CTCs and CTC clusters, with no influence on blood flow instability. This technique revealed a higher concentration of CTPs than CTCs at an early cancer stage. Because a single tumor cell can release many CTPs and in vivo PAFFC can examine the whole blood volume, PAFFC diagnostic platform has the potential to dramatically improve (up to 105-fold) the sensitivity of cancer diagnosis

Photothermal confocal multicolor microscopy of nanoparticles and nanodrugs in live cells

<div><p></p><p>Growing biomedical applications of non-fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs) for molecular imaging, disease diagnosis, drug delivery, and theranostics require new tools for real-time detection of nanomaterials, drug nano-carriers, and NP-drug conjugates (nanodrugs) in complex biological environments without additional labeling. Photothermal (PT) microscopy (PTM) has enormous potential for absorption-based identification and quantification of non-fluorescent molecules and NPs at a single molecule and 1.4 nm gold NP level. Recently, we have developed confocal PTM providing three-dimensional (3D) mapping and spectral identification of multiple chromophores and fluorophores in live cells. Here, we summarize recent advances in the application of confocal multicolor PTM for 3D visualization of single and clustered NPs, alone and in individual cells. In particular, we demonstrate identification of functionalized magnetic and gold–silver NPs, as well as graphene and carbon nanotubes in cancer cells and among blood cells. The potential to use PTM for super-resolution imaging (down to 50 nm), real-time NP tracking, guidance of PT nanotherapy, and multiplex cancer markers targeting, as well as analysis of non-linear PT phenomena and amplification of nanodrug efficacy through NP clustering and nano-bubble formation are also discussed.</p></div