Advancing Spinal Cord Injury Bioimaging and Repair with Multifunctional Gold Nanodots Tracking.
Ze WangZhubin ShenAnnan LiuHao LiangXingchen LiLin GuanLei LiAndrew Keith WhittakerFei YinBai YangQuan LinPublished in: ACS applied materials & interfaces (2024)
High levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to play a critical role in the secondary cascade of spinal cord injury (SCI). The scavenging of ROS has emerged as a promising approach for alleviating acute SCI. Moreover, identifying the precise location of the SCI site remains challenging. Enhancing the visualization of the spinal cord and improving the ability to distinguish the lesion site are crucial for accurate and safe treatment. Therefore, there is an urgent clinical need to develop a biomaterial that integrates diagnosis and treatment for SCI. Herein, ultra-small-sized gold nanodots (AuNDs) were designed for dual-mode imaging-guided precision treatment of SCI. The designed AuNDs demonstrate two important functions. First, they effectively scavenge ROS, inhibit oxidative stress, reduce the infiltration of inflammatory cells, and prevent apoptosis. This leads to a significant improvement in SCI repair and promotes a functional recovery after injury. Second, leveraging their excellent dual-mode imaging capabilities, the AuNDs enable rapid and accurate identification of SCI sites. The high contrast observed between the injured and adjacent uninjured areas highlights the tremendous potential of AuNDs for SCI detection. Overall, by integrating ROS scavenging and dual-mode imaging in a single biomaterial, our work on functionalized AuNDs provides a promising strategy for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of SCI.
Keyphrases
- spinal cord injury
- spinal cord
- reactive oxygen species
- high resolution
- neuropathic pain
- oxidative stress
- cell death
- dna damage
- cell cycle arrest
- induced apoptosis
- magnetic resonance
- signaling pathway
- drug delivery
- liver failure
- quantum dots
- combination therapy
- computed tomography
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- magnetic resonance imaging
- hepatitis b virus
- acute respiratory distress syndrome
- climate change
- tandem mass spectrometry
- fluorescence imaging
- label free
- living cells
- pi k akt
- molecularly imprinted
- replacement therapy