Abstract
We propose the use of branched gold nanoparticles (B-GNPs) as a contrast agent for optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. Our results show that even when the central source of our OCT (1325 nm) is too far from the maximum peak of the plasmon resonance, branched nanoparticles scatter light very efficiently at this wavelength. B-GNPs were tested as a contrast agent in water and agarose-TiO2tissue phantoms; the estimated increments in contrast were 9.19 dB and 15.07 dB for branched nanoparticles in water with concentrations of2.2×109 NPs/mL and6.6×109 NPs/mL, respectively, while for agarose-TiO2tissue phantoms the estimated value was 3.17 dB. These results show the promising application of B-GNPs as a contrast agent for tissue imaging using OCT, not only for sources at 1325 nm but also at other central wavelengths located between 800 and 1000 nm.
Highlights
Different endogenous materials have been investigated as contrast agents in optical coherence tomography imaging of tissue structure [1,2,3,4,5]; they are very expensive, exhibit low photostability values, introduce poor contrast enhancement, and are difficult to tune in the NIR region
branched gold nanoparticles (B-GNPs) were studied as a contrast agent for optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging in water and agarose-TiO2 tissue phantom
OCT images of water with B-GNPs were acquired with a concentration of 6.6 × 109 NPs/mL (see Figure 3(e)), but this time we could not see the isolated spots corresponding to each nanoparticle, and we only appreciate a bright continuous background, due to the high concentration of NPs
Summary
Different endogenous materials have been investigated as contrast agents in optical coherence tomography imaging of tissue structure [1,2,3,4,5]; they are very expensive, exhibit low photostability values, introduce poor contrast enhancement, and are difficult to tune in the NIR region. New materials, such as metallic and polymeric nanoparticles (NPs), have been designed to have very interesting optical properties [6,7,8], but few have been explored as contrast agents [9,10,11,12,13,14]. Gold NPs are biocompatible and nontoxic, and they can be functionalized to target specific biomarkers of tissue and cells [21,22,23]
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