KEYWORDS: Tissues, Signal detection, In vivo imaging, Cancer, Gold, Luminescence, Two photon excitation microscopy, Tumor growth modeling, Confocal microscopy, Nanorods
Gold nanorods (GNRs) combined with two-photon microscopy were explored for
potential application in imaging of oral carcinogenesis. GNRs have been shown to be effective
contrast agents for two photon luminescence in that excitation laser powers required for imaging
are low compared to traditional fluorophores. Imaging of cells, ex vivo tissues, and in vivo oral
mucosa labeled with GNRs was performed to evaluate potential advantages of these agents in
molecular imaging of epithelial carcinogenesis. Powers required to elicit a two-photon
luminescence signal from GNRs were determined for cells as well as normal and malignant
transformed lesions, 24 hours following injection of GNRs in a hamster model for oral cancer.
The strength of the detected emission as the function of the average incident laser power was
measured in tissues with and without GNRs to compare the sensitivity of GNRs against tissue
autofluorescence. Finally, in vivo imaging was performed immediately following GNR injection
to establish the ability to image microvasculature at low incident powers.
The pilot study demonstrated uptake of GNRs by cells and in tissues yielding bright
fluorescence signals using significantly lower incident powers than those needed to excite tissue
autofluorescence. The in vivo imaging aspect of the study demonstrated the localization of GNRs
within the microvasculature of the oral cancer model. These preliminary studies demonstrated
the ability of GNRs to function as photostable, high contrast imaging agents and suggest that
GNRs and multi-photon imaging have great potential for applications in the field of molecular
imaging and early detection of cancer.
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