Abstract
BackgroundFor intraoperative imaging in operating theaters or preoperative imaging in clinics, compact and economic integration rather than large and expensive equipment is required to coregister structural and functional imaging. However, current technologies, such as those integrating optical and gamma cameras or infrared and fluorescence imaging, involve certain drawbacks, including the radioactive biorisks of nuclear medicine indicators and the inconvenience of conducting measurements in dark environments.MethodsTo specifically and magnetically label liver tumors, an anti-alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) reagent was synthesized from biosafe iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with anti-AFP antibody and solved in a phosphate buffered saline solution. In addition, a novel dual-imaging model system integrating an optical camera and magnetic scanning superconducting-quantum-interference device (SQUID) biosusceptometry (SSB) was proposed. The simultaneous coregistration of low-field magnetic images of MNP distributions and optical images of anatomical regions enabled the tumor distribution to be determined easily and in real time. To simulate targeted MNPs within animals, fewer reagents than the injected dose were contained in a microtube as a sample for the phantom test. The phantom test was conducted to examine the system characteristics and the analysis method of dual images. Furthermore, the animal tests were classified into two types, with liver tumors implanted either on the backs or livers of rats. The tumors on the backs were to visually confirm the imaging results of the phantom test, and the tumors on the livers were to simulate real cases in hepatocellular carcinoma people.ResultsA phantom test was conducted using the proposed analysis method; favorable contour agreement was shown between the MNP distribution in optical and magnetic images. Consequently, the positioning and discrimination of liver tumors implanted on the backs and livers of rats were verified by conducting in vivo and ex vivo tests. The results of tissue staining verified the feasibility of using this method to determine the distribution of liver tumors.ConclusionThe results of this study indicate the clinical potential of using anti-AFP-mediated MNPs and the dual-imaging model SSB for discriminating and locating tumors.
Highlights
For intraoperative imaging in operating theaters or preoperative imaging in clinics, compact and economic integration rather than large and expensive equipment is required to coregister structural and functional imaging
Structural imaging is developed on the basis of the physical characteristics of the tissues, whereas functional imaging is developed on the basis of the biological features of tumors or characteristics of bioprobe-mediated nanoparticles, which is an image contrast medium
Phantom test The dual-imaging model superconducting-quantum-interference device (SQUID) biosusceptometry (SSB) shown in Figure 1 was used to capture optical and magnetic images of microtest tubes filled with the anti-AFP reagents
Summary
For intraoperative imaging in operating theaters or preoperative imaging in clinics, compact and economic integration rather than large and expensive equipment is required to coregister structural and functional imaging. Current technologies, such as those integrating optical and gamma cameras or infrared and fluorescence imaging, involve certain drawbacks, including the radioactive biorisks of nuclear medicine indicators and the inconvenience of conducting measurements in dark environments. For biosafety, bioprobe-mediated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) without radioactive risks are increasingly adopted as a contrast medium in functional imaging [3] for MRI
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