Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
Trends Mol Med. 2010 Dec;16(12):561-73. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2010.09.004. Epub 2010 Nov 10.
Inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) including semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), iron oxide NPs and gold NPs have been developed as contrast agents for diagnostics by molecular imaging. Compared with traditional contrast agents, NPs offer several advantages: their optical and magnetic properties can be tailored by engineering the composition, structure, size and shape; their surfaces can be modified with ligands to target specific biomarkers of disease; the contrast enhancement provided can be equivalent to millions of molecular counterparts; and they can be integrated with a combination of different functions for multimodal imaging. Here, we review recent advances in the development of contrast agents based on inorganic NPs for molecular imaging, and also touch on contrast enhancement, surface modification, tissue targeting, clearance and toxicity. As research efforts intensify, contrast agents based on inorganic NPs that are highly sensitive, target-specific and safe to use are expected to enter clinical applications in the near future.
无机纳米粒子（NPs），包括半导体量子点（QDs）、氧化铁 NPs 和金 NPs，已被开发为分子成像诊断的对比剂。与传统的对比剂相比，NPs 具有以下几个优势：通过设计组成、结构、尺寸和形状，可以调整其光学和磁学性质；其表面可以用配体进行修饰，以针对疾病的特定生物标志物；提供的对比度增强相当于数百万个分子对应物；并且可以与不同功能的组合集成，实现多模态成像。在这里，我们综述了基于无机 NPs 的分子成像对比剂的最新进展，并讨论了对比度增强、表面修饰、组织靶向、清除和毒性。随着研究工作的加强，预计基于无机 NPs 的高灵敏度、靶向特异性和使用安全的对比剂将在不久的将来进入临床应用。
