de la Zerda Adam, Prabhulkar Shradha, Perez Victor L, Ruggeri Marco, Paranjape Amit S, Habte Frezghi, Gambhir Sanjiv S, Awdeh Richard M
Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, the Bio-X Program and the Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA.
Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA.
Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2015 May-Jun;43(4):358-66. doi: 10.1111/ceo.12299. Epub 2015 Feb 12.
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a powerful imaging modality to visualize tissue structures, with axial image pixel resolution as high as 1.6 μm in tissue. However, OCT is intrinsically limited to providing structural information as the OCT contrast is produced by optically scattering tissues.
Gold nanorods (GNRs) were injected into the anterior chamber (AC) and cornea of mice eyes which could create a significant OCT signal and hence could be used as a contrast agent for in vivo OCT imaging.
A dose of 30 nM of GNRs (13 nm in diameter and 45 nm in length) were injected to the AC of mice eyes and produced an OCT contrast nearly 50-fold higher than control mice injected with saline. Furthermore, the lowest detectable concentration of GNRs in living mice AC was experimentally estimated to be as low as 120 pM.
The high sensitivity and low toxicity of GNRs brings great promise for OCT to uniquely become a high-resolution molecular imaging modality.
光学相干断层扫描（OCT）是一种强大的成像方式，可用于可视化组织结构，其在组织中的轴向图像像素分辨率高达1.6μm。然而，由于OCT对比度是由光学散射组织产生的，因此OCT本质上仅限于提供结构信息。
将金纳米棒（GNRs）注入小鼠眼睛的前房（AC）和角膜，其可产生显著的OCT信号，因此可作为体内OCT成像的造影剂。
向小鼠眼睛的前房注射30 nM的GNRs（直径13 nm，长度45 nm），产生的OCT对比度比注射生理盐水的对照小鼠高近50倍。此外，通过实验估计，活体小鼠前房中GNRs的最低可检测浓度低至120 pM。
GNRs的高灵敏度和低毒性为OCT独特地成为高分辨率分子成像方式带来了巨大希望。
