Abstract
Perfluorocarbon nanoparticles offer a biologically inert, highly stable, and nontoxic platform that can be specifically designed to accomplish a range of molecular imaging and drug delivery functions in vivo. The particle surface can be decorated with targeting ligands to direct the agent to a variety of biomarkers that are associated with diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and thrombosis. The surface can also carry a high payload of imaging agents, ranging from paramagnetic metals for MRI, radionuclides for nuclear imaging, iodine for CT, and florescent tags for histology, allowing high sensitivity mapping of cellular receptors that may be expressed at very low levels in the body. In addition to these diagnostic imaging applications, the particles can be engineered to carry highly potent drugs and specifically deposit them into cell populations that display biosignatures of a variety of diseases. The highly flexible and robust nature of this combined molecular imaging and drug delivery vehicle has been exploited in a variety of animal models to demonstrate its potential impact on the care and treatment of patients suffering from some of the most debilitating diseases.
Highlights
Perfluorocarbon nanoparticles consist of a liquid perfluorocarbon core encapsulated within a monolayer of phospholipids [1,2,3,4,5,6]
A peptidomimetic that binds to the α]β3-integrin has been used extensively to target perfluorocarbon nanoparticles to angiogenic vasculature associated with cancer [31, 32], cardiovascular disease [33,34,35], obesity [36], and revascularization [37]
While this study showed that α]β3-integrin targeted nanoparticles can be used to monitor angiogenesis in skeletal muscle, other potential applications include mapping the angiogenic response to myocardial ischemia or stroke
Summary
Perfluorocarbon nanoparticles consist of a liquid perfluorocarbon core encapsulated within a monolayer of phospholipids [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The particles are around 250 nm in diameter allowing them to circulate through capillary beds To manufacture these particles, the individual components, perfluorocarbon, phospholipids, water, imaging agents, targeting ligands, and drugs, are forced under high pressure through a microfluidizer to form small particles with a fairly narrow size distribution. Nanoparticles can support large payloads of imaging agents, targeting ligands, or drugs due to their large surface area. The drug is only released from the particle carrier when it comes into close contact with other phospholipid membranes, such as the surface of a targeted cell. A combined imaging and drug delivery agent can be produced by incorporating an imaging agent on the surface and a drug within the membrane of the perfluorocarbon nanoparticles. This information can be used to verify that adequate drug levels are being delivered to the diseased tissue and to provide a very early prediction of the subsequent therapeutic effect
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