Silica-coated super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) as biocompatible contrast agent in biomedical photoacoustics.
In this study, we report for the first time the use of silica-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) as contrast agents in biomedical photoacoustic imaging. Using frequency-domain photoacoustic correlation (the photoacoustic radar), we investigated the effects of nanoparticle size, concentration and biological media (e.g. serum, sheep blood) on the photoacoustic response in turbid media. Maximum detection depth and the minimum measurable SPION concentration were determined experimentally. The nanoparticle-induced optical contrast ex vivo in dense muscular tissues (avian pectus and murine quadricept) was evaluated and the strong potential of silica-coated SPION as a possible photoacoustic contrast agents was demonstrated.
Center for Advanced Diffusion-Wave Technologies (CADIFT), Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 5 King's College Road, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G8,  Canada.
Rudolf
R
Alwi
Sergey
S
Telenkov
Andreas
A
Mandelis
Timothy
T
Leshuk
Frank
F
Gu
Sulayman
S
Oladepo
Kirk
K
Michaelian