State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, PR China.
State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
Biomaterials. 2017 Jul;132:37-47. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.04.007. Epub 2017 Apr 7.
Titanium nitride, an alternative plasmonic material to gold with unique physiochemical properties, has been widely used in microelectronics, biomedical devices and food-contact applications. However, its potential application in the area of biomedicine has not been effectively explored. With the spectral match of their plasmon resonance band and the biological transparency window as well as good biocompatibility, titanium nitride nanoparticles (TiN NPs) are promising photoabsorbing agents for photothermal therapy (PTT) and photoacoustic imaging. Nevertheless, the photothermal performance of TiN NPs has not been investigated until now. Here, we presented the investigation of employing TiN NPs as photoabsorbing agents for in vivo photoacoustic tomography (PAT) imaging-guided photothermal cancer therapy. Our experimental results showed that TiN NPs could strongly absorb the NIR light and provided up to 48% photothermal conversion efficiency. After PEGylation, the resultant nanoparticles demonstrated improved physiological stability and extensive blood retention. Following intravenously administration, they could simultaneously enhance the photoacoustic signals of the tumor region and destroy tumors in the tumor-bearing mouse model by taking advantage of the photothermal effect of the TiN NPs. Our findings highlighted the great potential of plasmonic TiN NPs in detection and treatment of cancer.
氮化钛是一种替代金的等离子体材料，具有独特的物理化学性质，已广泛应用于微电子、生物医学设备和食品接触应用。然而，其在生物医学领域的潜在应用尚未得到有效探索。氮化钛纳米粒子（TiN NPs）具有等离子体共振带的光谱匹配和生物透明窗口以及良好的生物相容性，是光热治疗（PTT）和光声成象的有前途的光吸收剂。然而，直到现在，TiN NPs 的光热性能仍未得到研究。在这里，我们研究了将 TiN NPs 用作光吸收剂用于体内光声断层扫描（PAT）成像引导光热癌症治疗。我们的实验结果表明，TiN NPs 可以强烈吸收近红外光，并提供高达 48%的光热转换效率。经过 PEG 化处理后，所得纳米颗粒表现出更好的生理稳定性和广泛的血液保留。静脉注射后，它们可以通过利用 TiN NPs 的光热效应，同时增强肿瘤部位的光声信号，并在荷瘤小鼠模型中破坏肿瘤。我们的研究结果突出了等离子体 TiN NPs 在癌症检测和治疗方面的巨大潜力。
