title: Use of magnetic nanoparticles to visualize threadlike structures inside lymphatic vessels of rats.
abstract: A novel application of fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles was made to visualize a new tissue which had not been detectable by using simple stereomicroscopes. This unfamiliar threadlike structure inside the lymphatic vessels of rats was demonstrated in vivo by injecting nanoparticles into lymph nodes and applying magnetic fields on the collecting lymph vessels so that the nanoparticles were taken up by the threadlike structures. Confocal laser scanning microscope images of cryosectioned specimens exhibited that the nanoparticles were absorbed more strongly by the threadlike structure than by the lymphatic vessels. Further examination using a transmission electron microscope revealed that the nanoparticles had been captured between the reticular fibers in the extracellular matrix of the threadlike structures. The emerging technology of nanoparticles not only allows the extremely elusive threadlike structures to be visualized but also is expected to provide a magnetically controllable means to investigate their physiological functions.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Physics Laboratory, FPRD School of Physics and Astronomy, Materials Chemistry Laboratory School of Chemistry and Research Institute of Basic Sciences Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyeon-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Johng
authors.forename: Jung Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Tae-Jong
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Hak-Soo
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Byung-Cheon
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Changhoon
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jin-Kyu
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kwang-Sup
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Soh