Hartman RK, Hallam KA, Donnelly EM, Emelianov SY. Photoacoustic imaging of gold nanorods in the brain delivered via microbubble-assisted focused ultrasound: a tool for
in vivo molecular neuroimaging.
LASER PHYSICS LETTERS 2019;
16:025603. [PMID:
30800031 PMCID:
PMC6380671 DOI:
10.1088/1612-202x/aaf89e]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The protective barriers of the CNS present challenges during the treatment and monitoring of diseases. In particular, the blood brain barrier is a major hindrance to the delivery of imaging contrast agents and therapeutics to the brain. In this work, we use gas microbubble-assisted focused ultrasound to transiently open the blood brain barrier and locally deliver silica coated gold nanorods across the barrier. This particular nanoagent possesses a strong optical absorption which enables in vivo and ex vivo visualization of the delivered particles using ultrasound-guided photoacoustic imaging. The results of these studies demonstrate the potential of ultrasound-guided photoacoustics to image contrast agents delivered via microbubble-assisted focused ultrasound for longitudinal diagnostic imaging and for therapeutic monitoring of neurological diseases.
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