1 research outputs found
Biofunctionalization of Large Gold Nanorods Realizes Ultrahigh-Sensitivity Optical Imaging Agents
Gold nanorods (GNRs, ∼ 50
× 15 nm) have been used ubiquitously
in biomedicine for their optical properties, and many methods of GNR
biofunctionalization have been described. Recently, the synthesis
of larger-than-usual GNRs (LGNRs, ∼ 100 × 30 nm) has been
demonstrated. However, LGNRs have not been biofunctionalized and therefore
remain absent from biomedical literature to date. Here we report the
successful biofunctionalization of LGNRs, which produces highly stable
particles that exhibit a narrow spectral peak (FWHM ∼100 nm).
We further demonstrated that functionalized LGNRs can be used as highly
sensitive scattering contrast agents by detecting individual LGNRs
in clear liquids. Owing to their increased optical cross sections,
we found that LGNRs exhibited up to 32-fold greater backscattering
than conventional GNRs. We leveraged these enhanced optical properties
to detect LGNRs in the vasculature of live tumor-bearing mice. With
LGNR contrast enhancement, we were able to visualize tumor blood vessels
at depths that were otherwise undetectable. We expect that the particles
reported herein will enable immediate sensitivity improvements in
a wide array of biomedical imaging and sensing techniques that rely
on conventional GNRs