碳量子点作为光声造影剂的性能评价与基础研究

基于碳量子点的优异光吸收性能,探讨碳量子点作为光声造影剂的潜质.测试碳量子点的基本物理性质,以及不同浓度、波长、缓冲液中的体外光声成像效果.进而研究其在小鼠皮下注射及尾静脉注射下的体内光声造影效果及生物相容性.结果显示,碳量子点具有优良的光声性能,在多种缓冲液中具备稳定的光声信号.动物体内实验证实其在小鼠皮下以及血管中均能起到光声造影增强作用,并且具有良好的生物相容性.

Carbon dots as highly efficient photoacoustic contrast agents for biomedical imaging

Carbon dots (c-dots) are light-emitting (luminescent) nanoparticles that are vastly used as an exogenous imaging contrast agent due to their unique optical properties. In this project, we proposed to use c-dots as a new class of exogenous photoacoustic imaging agents. Photoacoustic images of c-dots, which are dissolved in different concentrations and different solvents, were acquired sequentially by a portable and fast photoacoustic tomography system with a hand-held transducer. The morphology and functional perfusion of the tumors angiogenesis were delineated in photoacoustic images due to the c-dots nanoparticle accumulation. No obvious toxic effect was observed by ex vivo histological examination 14 days after c-dots administration. We demonstrate the great potential of c-dots to be used as a contrast agent for molecular photoacoustic imaging in various biomedical applications, especially for photoacoustic cancer detection and diagnosis.