title: Fluorescence-tagged gold nanoparticles for rapidly characterizing the size-dependent biodistribution in tumor models.
abstract: Nanoparticle vehicles may improve the delivery of contrast agents and therapeutics to diseased tissues, but their rational design is currently impeded by a lack of robust technologies to characterize their in vivo behavior in real-time. This study demonstrates that fluorescent-labeled gold nanoparticles can be optimized for in vivo detection, perform pharmacokinetic analysis of nanoparticle designs, analyze tumor extravasation, and clearance kinetics in tumor-bearing animals. This optical imaging approach is non-invasive and high-throughput. Interestingly, these fluorescent gold nanoparticles can be used for multispectral imaging to compare several nanoparticle designs simultaneously within the same animal and eliminates the host-dependent variabilities across measured data. Together these results describe a novel platform for evaluating the performance of tumor-targeting nanoparticles, and provide new insights for the design of future nanotherapeutics.
authors.affiliation: Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Leo Y T
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Warren C W
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004058:Diffusion; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D010316:Particle Size; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006046:Gold