title: Ultrasmall dopamine-coated nanogolds: preparation, characteristics, and CT imaging.
abstract: Water-dispersible ultrasmall nanogolds (WDU AuNPs) and their dopamine-coated nanogolds (WDU AuNPs@DPAs) were prepared by a reduction method with sodium borohydride as a reducing agent and a stabilised agent of 2-mercaptosuccinic acid in aqueous solution. The effects of these nanoparticles on computed tomography (CT) imaging were evaluated. The size distributions and Zeta potential of the nanoparticles were measured with a Malvern size analyser, and nanoparticle morphology was observed by transmission electron microscopy. These characteristics were confirmed by Fourier transform spectroscopy and ultraviolet/visible spectra. It was found that WDU AuNPs@DPAs were 5.4 nm in size with clear core-shell structure. The 3-(4, 5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay results showed that the WDU AuNPs and WDU AuNPs@DPAs were hypotoxic to different cells. The WDU AuNPs@DPAs showed a much longer circulation time and a larger CT attenuation coefficient than iohexol and could be excreted by the kidney and bladder. These nanoparticles showed considerable potential for future application in CT imaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , PR China.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , PR China.
authors.forename: Youshen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , PR China.
authors.forename: JiaJun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University , Xi'an , PR China.
authors.forename: Yonghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , PR China.
authors.forename: Daocheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: AuNPs; CT imaging; dopamine