GOLD AND SILVER NANOPARTICLES AS COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT) CONTRAST AGENTS PRODUCED BY A PULSED LASER ABLATION TECHNIQUE: STUDY In-vitro AND In-vivo

Abstract

High-purity metal nanoparticles such as gold and silver nanoparticles become an interesting subject for application in the medical field. Using the laser ablation approach, these nanoparticles were successfully synthesized in this present work. Experimentally, a pulse neodymium yttrium aluminum garnet laser (1064 nm, 30 mJ, 10 Hz) was used to irradiate high-purity metals immersed in an iodine liquid medium. Purple, yellow, and dark purple colloidal nanoparticles of Au, Ag, and Au-Ag were successfully synthesized. The results certified that all nanoparticles have a spherical shape; Au nanoparticles had an average diameter of 26 nm and a standard deviation of 4 nm, while Ag nanoparticles had an average diameter of 24 nm and a standard deviation of 5 nm. The diameter distribution of AuAg nanoparticles is extraordinarily vast, ranging from 18 to 80 nm. Colloids of mixed Au-Ag nanoparticles had the highest Hounsfield Units (HU) value in an in vivo test, with a value of 302. This was supported by the results of an in vitro contrast enhancement evaluation, which determined that a mixture of Au-Ag nanoparticles provided the best contrast enhancement compared to other colloids. These results confirmed that the Au-Ag nanoparticles are very suitable as contrast agents in CT.