RT journal article
T1 Contrast enhanced photoacoustic detection of fibrillar collagen in the near infrared region-I
A1 Solomonov, Inna
A1 Locatelli, Irene
A1 Tortorella, Silvia
A1 Unni, Manu
A1 Aharoni, Shay-Lee
A1 Alchera, Elisa
A1 Locatelli, Erica
A1 Maturi, Mirko
A1 Venegoni, Chiara
A1 Lucianò, Roberta
A1 Salonia, Andrea
A1 Corti, Angelo
A1 Curnis, Flavio
A1 Grasso, Valeria
A1 Malamal, Gayathri
A1 Jose, Jithin
A1 Comes Franchini, Mauro
A1 Sagi, Irit
A1 Alfano, Massimo
A2 Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica
AB Fibrillar collagen accumulation emerges as a promising biomarker in several diseases, such as desmoplastic tumors and unstable atherosclerotic plaque. Gold nanorods (GNRs) hold great potential as contrast agents in high-resolution, biomedically safe, and non-invasive photoacoustic imaging (PAI). This study presents the design and characterization of a specialized imaging tool which exploits GNR assisted targeted photoacoustic imaging that is tailored for the identification of fibrillar collagen. In addition to the photoacoustic characterization of collagen in the NIR 1 and 2 regions, we demonstrate the detailed steps of conjugating a decoy to GNRs. This study serves as a proof of concept, that demonstrates that conjugated collagenase-1 (MMP-1) generates a distinct and collagen-specific photoacoustic signal, facilitating real-time visualization in the wavelength range of 700-970 nm (NIR I). As most of the reported studies utilized the endogenous contrast of collagen in the NIR II wavelength that has major limitations to perform in vivo deep tissue imaging, the approach that we are proposing is unique and it highlights the promise of MMP-1 decoy-functionalized GNRs as novel contrast agents for photoacoustic imaging of collagen in the NIR 1 region. To our knowledge this is the first time functionalized GNRs are optimized for the detection of fibrillar collagen and utilized in the field of non-invasive photoacoustic imaging that can facilitate a better prognosis of desmoplastic tumors and broken atherosclerotic plaques.
PB Royal Society of Chemistry
SN 2516-0230
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/37074
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/37074
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 21-sep-2026