3 research outputs found
Nanosized Hollow Colloidal Organosilica Nanospheres with High Elasticity for Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography of Tumors
Despite
several reports on using silica hollow spheres as ultrasound
contrast agents, they all suffer from their inherent drawbacks, e.g.,
poor imaging ability caused by highly rigid shell or large particles
size that leads to failures of these particles in entering tumor tissues,
no mesoporous channels to load other active molecules (e.g., fluorocarbons).
In this report, amino groups-functionalized hollow colloidal organosilica
nanospheres (HCONs) with approximately 260 nm in diameter are prepared.
Depending on the thin and pure organosilica shell, the HCONs feature
high elasticity beneficial for acquiring excellent ultrasonic imaging
outcomes. Our in vitro experiment shows that the ultrasonic contrast
increases 11 times and in vivo experiment also shows that the ultrasound
imaging performance of tumor is improved for 1.5 times. More importantly,
HCONs can load liquid perfluorohexane (PFH) capable of vaporizing
into gas bubbles, which further enhance the ultrasonic imaging outcome.
In addition, the organosilica nanospheres have a good biosafety, which
is expected to become a new generation of ultrasound contrast agent