Push-pull type meso-ester substituted BODIPY near-infrared dyes as contrast agents for photoacoustic imaging.

A series of push-pull type meso-ester substituted BODIPY dyes 1-4 with intense near-infrared absorption, largely enhanced photoacoustic (PA) activity and excellent photo-stability were synthesized. The impact of the electronic structure on the PA activity was also discussed. Moreover, the in vitro and in vivo PA imaging were investigated, which suggested a passive targeting capacity in the tumor site.

Noninvasive in vivo multispectral optoacoustic imaging of apoptosis in triple negative breast cancer using indocyanine green conjugated phosphatidylserine monoclonal antibody.

Noninvasive and nonradioactive imaging modality to track and image apoptosis during chemotherapy of triple negative breast cancer is much needed for an effective treatment plan. Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a biomarker transiently exposed on the outer surface of the cells during apoptosis. Its externalization occurs within a few hours of an apoptotic stimulus by a chemotherapy drug and leads to presentation of millions of phospholipid molecules per apoptotic cell on the cell surface.

A narrow-bandgap benzobisthiadiazole derivative with high near-infrared photothermal conversion efficiency and robust photostability for cancer therapy.

Photothermal therapy has emerged as a promising tool for treatment of diseases such as cancers. Previous photothermal agents have been largely limited to inorganic nanomaterials and conductive polymers that are barely biodegradable, thus raising issues of long-term toxicity for clinical applications. Here we report a new photothermal agent based on colloidal nanoparticles formed by a small-molecular dye, benzo[1,2-c;4,5-c']bis[1,2,5]thiadiazole-4,7-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophene).

Dual functions of gold nanorods as photothermal agent and autofluorescence enhancer to track cell death during plasmonic photothermal therapy.

Gold nanorods have the potential to localize the treatment procedure by hyperthermia and influence the fluorescence. The longitudinal plasmon peak contributes to the photothermal effect by converting light to heat. When these nanorods are PEGylated, it not only makes it biocompatible but also acts as a spacer layer during fluorescence enhancement.

Optimization in interstitial plasmonic photothermal therapy for treatment planning.

Purpose: Gold nanorods have the potential to enhance the treatment efficacy of interstitial photothermal therapy. In order to enhance both the potential efficiency and the safety of such procedures, treatment planning on laser power density, nanoparticle concentration, and exposure time has turned out to be useful in predicting the thermal damage and optimizing treatment outcome. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous report on the optimization of interstitial plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) for all these free parameters simultaneously.

Fluorescence enhancement using silver nanotriangle arrays.

We describe the fabrication of silver nanotriangle array using angle resolved nanosphere lithography and utilizing the same for enhancing fluorescence. The well established nanosphere lithography is modified by changing the angle of deposition between the nanosphere mask and the beam of silver being deposited resulting in nanotriangles of varying surface area and density. The 470 nm plasmon resonance wavelength of the substrate was determined using minimum reflectivity method which closely matches with excitation wavelength of the fluorophore.

Nanosphere templated metallic grating assisted enhanced fluorescence.

In this paper, enhanced fluorescence from a silver film coated nanosphere templated grating is presented. Initially, numerical simulation was performed to determine the plasmon resonance wavelength by varying the thickness of the silver film on top of a monolayer of 400 nm nanospheres. The simulation results are verified experimentally and tested for enhancing fluorescence from fluorescein isothiocyanate whose excitation wavelength closely matches with the plasmon resonance wavelength of the substrate with 100 nm silver film over nanosphere.