Photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging using dual contrast perfluorocarbon nanodroplets triggered by laser pulses at 1064 nm.
Recently, a dual photoacoustic and ultrasound contrast agent-named photoacoustic nanodroplet-has been introduced. Photoacoustic nanodroplets consist of a perfluorocarbon core, surfactant shell, and encapsulated photoabsorber. Upon pulsed laser irradiation the perfluorocarbon converts to gas, inducing a photoacoustic signal from vaporization and subsequent ultrasound contrast from the resulting gas microbubbles. In this work we synthesize nanodroplets which encapsulate gold nanorods with a peak absorption near 1064 nm. Such nanodroplets are optimal for extended photoacoustic imaging depth and contrast, safety and system cost. We characterized the nanodroplets for optical absorption, image contrast and vaporization threshold. We then imaged the particles in an ex vivo porcine tissue sample, reporting contrast enhancement in a biological environment. These 1064 nm triggerable photoacoustic nanodroplets are a robust biomedical tool to enhance image contrast at clinically relevant depths.
The Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Alexander S
AS
Hannah
The Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA ; The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Donald
D
VanderLaan
The Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA ; The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Yun-Sheng
YS
Chen
The Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA ; The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Stanislav Y
SY
Emelianov
(110.5120) Photoacoustic imaging; (160.4236) Nanomaterials; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging; (170.7170) Ultrasound; (170.7180) Ultrasound diagnostics