Effect of computed tomography scanning parameters on gold nanoparticle and iodine contrast.

Purpose: Gold nanoparticles (gold-NPs) have lately been proposed as alternative contrast agents to iodine-based contrast agents (iodine-CA) for computed tomography (CT) angiography. The aims of this study were to confirm an appropriate environment in which to evaluate such novel contrast agents, to investigate the comparative contrast of iodine-CA versus gold-NP, and to determine optimal scanning parameters for gold-NP.

Materials And Methods: Three different clinical scanners were used to acquire CT images.

A versatile and tunable coating strategy allows control of nanocrystal delivery to cell types in the liver.

There are many liver diseases that could be treated with delivery of therapeutics such as DNA, proteins, or small molecules. Nanoparticles are often proposed as delivery vectors for such therapeutics; however, achieving nanoparticle accumulations in the therapeutically relevant hepatocytes is challenging. In order to address this issue, we have synthesized polymer coated, fluorescent iron oxide nanoparticles that bind and deliver DNA, as well as produce contrast for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluorescence imaging, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).