title: Establishment of a trimodality analytical platform for tracing, imaging and quantification of gold nanoparticles in animals by radiotracer techniques.
abstract: This study aims to establish a (198)Au-radiotracer technique for in vivo tracing, rapid quantification, and ex vivo visualization of PEGylated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in animals, organs and tissue dissections. The advantages of GNPs lie in its superior optical property, biocompatibility and versatile conjugation chemistry, which are promising to develop diagnostic probes and drug delivery systems. (198)Au is used as a radiotracer because it simultaneously emits beta and gamma radiations with proper energy and half-life; therefore, (198)Au can be used for bioanalytical purposes. The (198)Au-tagged radioactive gold nanoparticles ((198)Au-GNPs) were prepared simply by irradiating the GNPs in a nuclear reactor through the (197)Au(n,γ)(198)Au reaction and subsequently the (198)Au-GNPs were subjected to surface modification with polyethylene glycol to form PEGylated (198)Au-GNPs. The (198)Au-GNPs retained physicochemical properties that were the same as those of GNP before neutron irradiation. Pharmacokinetic and biodisposition studies were performed by intravenously injecting three types of (198)Au-GNPs with or without PEGylation into mice; the γ radiation in blood specimens and dissected organs was then measured. The (198)Au-radiotracer technique enables rapid quantification freed from tedious sample preparation and shows more than 95% recovery of injected GNPs. Clinical gamma scintigraphy was proved feasible to explore spatial- and temporal-resolved biodisposition of (198)Au-GNPs in living animals. Moreover, autoradiography, which recorded beta particles from (198)Au, enabled visualizing the heterogeneous biodisposition of (198)Au-GNPs in different microenvironments and tissues. In this study, the (198)Au-radiotracer technique facilitated creating a trimodality analytical platform for tracing, quantifying and imaging GNPs in animals.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering & Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes , Miaoli 35053, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chien-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Fong-Sian
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Wei-Neng
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Sanching L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Min-Hua
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yo-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wan-Yu
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ming-Hua
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Mei-Ya
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jinn-Jer
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Peir
authors.forename: Fong-In
authors.initials: FI
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Ching-Ya
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Sih-Yu
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Su-Chin
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Mo-Hsiung
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Dueng-Yuan
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Hueng
authors.forename: Yeukuang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hwu
authors.forename: Chung-Shi
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jen-Kun
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006207:Half-Life; D008297:Male; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D010316:Particle Size; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D011849:Radioactive Tracers; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D011849:Radioactive Tracers; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D006046:Gold