Work

Biodegradable Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanodots for Non-Invasive Photoacoustic Imaging and Photothermal Therapy

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: Multifunctional nanoparticles have been widely investigated for biomedical applications, such as imaging, therapy, and drug delivery.Especially, photoactive nanoparticles have received great attention as theranostic agents because of their heat-generating abilities after exposure to laser irradiation.However, photostability and safety issues have been the technical hurdles for further clinical applications.Here, we designed nitrogen (N)-doped carbon nanodots (N-CNDs) that have strong absorption in the near-infrared region, high photostability, and excellent biodegradability.Optimized N-CNDs can be utilized not only as a new photoacoustic (PA) imaging agent but also as a superior photothermal therapy (PTT) agent in vivo because of their strong optical absorption at a specific wavelength.We used N-CNDs to perform in vivo/ex vivo noninvasive PA imaging of sentinel lymph nodes via local delivery and performed PTT for cancer ablation therapy.Finally, biodegradation and renal clearance were confirmed by performing whole-body PA monitoring and a degradation test.

Source: Theranostics

DOI: 10.7150/thno.16923