Dark field imaging of rattle-type silica nanorattles coated gold nanoparticles <italic>in vitro</italic> and<italic> in vivo</italic>

Abstract

Gold nanoparticle is a promising nanomaterial used in the field of biological imaging, cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the research of gold nanoparticles in the dark field imaging using the light scattering characteristics is still rare and the biocompatibility has become an important problem that plagued its application. In this paper, we synthesized a novel nanostructure in which 13 nm gold nanoparticles exist in the cavity of the core-shell silica structure. This nanostructure remained gold particle dark field imaging characteristics, and improved the monodispersity and biocompatibility of gold nanoparticles. Cytotoxicity experiments show good biocompatibility of SN@GN in vitro . Acute toxicity in mice showed that the maximum-tolerated dose of SN@GN greater than 200 mg/kg, significantly improve the biocompatibility of gold nanoparticles. This study provides an important experimental basis of SN@GN in the medical imaging application.