Plasmonic Copper Sulfide Nanoparticles Enable Dark Contrast in Optical Coherence Tomography.
Riccardo MarinJosé LifanteLucas V BesteiroZhiming WangAlexander O GovorovFernando RiveroFernando AlfonsoFrancisco Sanz-RodríguezDaniel JaquePublished in: Advanced healthcare materials (2020)
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique affording noninvasive optical biopsies. Like for other imaging techniques, the use of dedicated contrast agents helps better discerning biological features of interest during the clinical practice. Although bright OCT contrast agents have been developed, no dark counterpart has been proposed yet. Herein, plasmonic copper sulfide nanoparticles as the first OCT dark contrast agents working in the second optical transparency window are reported. These nanoparticles virtually possess no light scattering capabilities at the OCT working wavelength (≈1300 nm); thus, they exclusively absorb the probing light, which in turn results in dark contrast. The small size of the nanoparticles and the absence of apparent cytotoxicity support the amenability of this system to biomedical applications. Importantly, in the pursuit of systems apt to yield OCT dark contrast, a library of copper sulfide nanoparticles featuring plasmonic resonances spanning the three optical transparency windows is prepared, thus highlighting the versatility and potential of these systems in light-controlled biomedical applications.
Keyphrases
- optical coherence tomography
- magnetic resonance
- diabetic retinopathy
- high resolution
- contrast enhanced
- optic nerve
- single molecule
- clinical practice
- magnetic resonance imaging
- high speed
- computed tomography
- photodynamic therapy
- walled carbon nanotubes
- energy transfer
- oxide nanoparticles
- fluorescence imaging
- risk assessment
- fluorescent probe
- ultrasound guided