Hongyu Chen

Monitoring pH-Triggered Drug Release from Radioluminescent Nanocapsules with X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence

One of the greatest challenges in cancer therapy is to develop methods to deliver chemotherapy agents to tumor cells while reducing systemic toxicity to noncancerous cells. A promising approach to localizing drug release is to employ drug-loaded nanoparticles with coatings that release the drugs only in the presence of specific triggers found in the target cells such as pH, enzymes, or light. However, many parameters affect the nanoparticle distribution and drug release rate, and it is difficult to quantify drug release in situ. In this work, we show proof-of-principle for a smart radioluminescent nanocapsule with an X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) spectrum that changes during release of the optically absorbing chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin. XEOL provides an almost background-free luminescent signal for measuring drug release from particles irradiated by a narrow X-ray beam. We study in vitro pH-triggered release rates of doxorubicin from nanocapsules coated with a pH-responsive polyelectrolyte multilayer using HPLC and XEOL spectroscopy. The doxorubicin was loaded to over 5% by weight and released from the capsule with a time constant in vitro of ∼36 days at pH 7.4 and 21 h at pH 5.0, respectively. The Gd₂O₂S:Eu nanocapsules are also paramagnetic at room temperature with similar magnetic susceptibility and similarly good MRI T₂ relaxivities to Gd₂O₃, but the sulfur increases the radioluminescence intensity and shifts the spectrum. Empty nanocapsules did not affect cell viability up to concentrations of at least 250 μg/mL. These empty nanocapsules accumulated in a mouse liver and spleen following tail vein injection and could be observed in vivo using XEOL. The particles are synthesized with a versatile template synthesis technique which allows for control of particle size and shape. The XEOL analysis technique opens the door to noninvasive quantification of drug release as a function of nanoparticle size, shape, surface chemistry, and tissue type.

One-pot hydrothermal synthesis of silver nanowires via citrate reduction.

We report a novel and simple hydrothermal method to synthesize silver nanowires using only silver nitrate and sodium citrate without any external seeds or templates. The effects of the molar ratio of silver ions to citrate, pH, and the reaction temperature were investigated. Silver nanowires and particles were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV/vis absorption spectroscopy. A high yield of nanowires (average diameter 53 ± 4 nm, length up to 6 μm) was obtained under optimized conditions with 1:1 M ratio of Ag(+) to citrate and pH 7.1 (no NaOH added) at 130 °C. Increasing the citrate ratio, increasing the pH with NaOH, or decreasing the reaction temperature all resulted in samples with shorter lengths and fewer nanowires compared to nanospheres. At pH 10.1, monodispersed nanospheres with diameter of 58 ± 9 nm were produced. The nanowire and nanosphere synthetic methods are attractive because of their simplicity, the lack of capping agents besides citrate, and the uniformity of the particles produced.

Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Detection of pH with Silica-Encapsulated 4-Mercaptobenzoic Acid-Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles

Sensors based upon surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) are attractive because they have narrow, vibrationally specific spectral peaks that can be excited using red and near-infrared light which avoids photobleaching, penetrates tissue, and reduces autofluorescence. Several groups have fabricated pH nanosensors by functionalizing silver or gold nanoparticle surfaces with an acidic molecule and measuring the ratio of protonated to deprotonated Raman bands. However, a limitation of these sensors is that macromolecules in biological systems can adsorb onto the nanoparticle surface and interfere with measurements. To overcome this interference, we encapsulated pH SERS sensors in a 30 nm thick silica layer with small pores which prevented bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecules from interacting with the pH-indicating 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) on the silver surfaces but preserved the pH-sensitivity. Encapsulation also improved colloidal stability and sensor reliability. The noise level corresponded to less than 0.1 pH units from pH 3 to 6. The silica-encapsulated functionalized silver nanoparticles (Ag-MBA@SiO(2)) were taken up by J774A.1 macrophage cells and measured a decrease in local pH during endocytosis. This strategy could be extended for detecting other small molecules in situ.

Synthesis of Brightly PEGylated Luminescent Magnetic Upconversion Nanophosphors for Deep Tissue and Dual MRI Imaging

A method is developed to fabricate monodispersed biocompatible Yb/Er or Yb/Tm doped β-NaGdF4 upconversion phosphors using polyelectrolytes to prevent irreversible particle aggregation during conversion of the precursor, Gd2 O(CO3 )2.H2 O:Yb/Er or Yb/Tm, to β-NaGdF4 :Yb/Er or Yb/Tm. The polyelectrolyte on the outer surface of nanophosphors also provided an amine tag for PEGylation. This method is also employed to fabricate PEGylated magnetic upconversion phosphors with Fe3 O4 as the core and β-NaGdF4 as a shell. These magnetic upconversion nanophosphors have relatively high saturation magnetization (7.0 emu g(-1) ) and magnetic susceptibility (1.7 × 10(-2) emu g(-1) Oe(-1) ), providing them with large magnetophoretic mobilities. The magnetic properties for separation and controlled release in flow, their optical properties for cell labeling, deep tissue imaging, and their T1 - and T2 -weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relaxivities are studied. The magnetic upconversion phosphors display both strong magnetophoresis, dual MRI imaging (r1 = 2.9 mM(-1) s(-1) , r2 = 204 mM(-1) s(-1) ), and bright luminescence under 1 cm chicken breast tissue.

Magnetic and optical properties of multifunctional core–shell radioluminescence nanoparticles

When X-rays irradiate radioluminescence nanoparticles, they generate visible and near infrared light that can penetrate through centimeters of tissue. X-ray luminescence tomography (XLT) maps the location of these radioluminescent contrast agents at high resolution by scanning a narrow X-ray beam through the tissue sample and collecting the luminescence at every position. Adding magnetic functionality to these radioluminescent particles would enable them to be guided, oriented, and heated using external magnetic fields, while their location and spectrum could be imaged with XLT and complementary magnetic resonance imaging. In this work, multifunctional monodispersed magnetic radioluminescent nanoparticles were developed as potential drug delivery carriers and radioluminescence imaging agents. The particles consisted of a spindle-shaped magnetic γ-Fe2O3 core and a radioluminescent europium-doped gadolinium oxide shell. Particles with solid iron oxide cores displayed saturation magnetizations consistent with their ~13% core volume, however, the iron oxide quenched their luminescence. In order to increase the luminescence, we partially etched the iron oxide core in oxalic acid while preserving the radioluminescent shell. The core size was controlled by the etching time which in turn affected the particles luminescence and magnetic properties. Particles with intermediate core sizes displayed both strong magnetophoresis and luminescence properties. They also served as MRI contrast agents with relaxivities of up to 58 mM-1s-1 (r2) and 120 mM-1s-1 (r2*). These particles offer promising multimodal MRI/fluorescence/X-ray luminescence contrast agents. Our core-shell synthesis technique offers a flexible method to control particle size, shape, and composition for a wide range of biological applications of magnetic/luminescent nanoparticles.

Nanotechnologies for noninvasive measurement of drug release.

A wide variety of chemotherapy and radiotherapy agents are available for treating cancer, but a critical challenge is to deliver these agents locally to cancer cells and tumors while minimizing side effects from systemic delivery. Nanomedicine uses nanoparticles with diameters in the range of ∼1-100 nm to encapsulate drugs and target them to tumors. The nanoparticle enhances local drug delivery efficiency to the tumors via entrapment in leaky tumor vasculature, molecular targeting to cells expressing cancer biomarkers, and/or magnetic targeting. In addition, the localization can be enhanced using triggered release in tumors via chemical, thermal, or optical signals. In order to optimize these nanoparticle drug delivery strategies, it is important to be able to image where the nanoparticles distribute and how rapidly they release their drug payloads. This Review aims to evaluate the current state of nanotechnology platforms for cancer theranostics (therapeutic and diagnostic particles) that are capable of noninvasive measurement of release kinetics.

Optical imaging in tissue with X-ray excited luminescent sensors

We report a high-spatial resolution imaging technique to measure optical absorption and detect chemical and physical changes on surfaces embedded in thick tissue. Developing sensors to measure chemical concentrations on implanted surfaces through tissue is an important challenge for analytical chemistry and biomedical imaging. Tissue scattering dramatically reduces the resolution of optical imaging. In contrast, X-rays provide high spatial resolution imaging through tissue but do not measure chemical concentrations. We describe a hybrid technique which uses a scanning X-ray beam to irradiate Gd(2)O(2)S scintillators and detect the resulting visible luminescence through the tissue. The amount of light collected is modulated by optical absorption in close proximity to the luminescence source. By scanning the X-ray beam, and measuring total amount of light collected, one can measure the local absorption near scintillators at a resolution limited by the width of luminescence source (i.e. the width of the X-ray excitation beam). For proof of principle, a rectangular 1.7 mm scanning X-ray beam was used to excite a single layer of 8 μm Gd(2)O(2)S particles, and detect the absorption of 5 nm thick silver island film through 10 mm of pork. Lifetime and spectroscopic measurements, as well changing the refractive index of the surroundings indicate that the silver reduces the optical signal through attenuated total internal reflection. The technique was used to image the dissolution of regions of the silver island film which were exposed to 1 mM of H(2)O(2) through 1 cm of pork tissue.

High-resolution chemical imaging through tissue with an X-ray scintillator sensor.

We describe a novel method for high-resolution chemical imaging on a surface embedded in tissue. The sensor surface consists of an X-ray scintillator film coated in a thin film loaded with chemical indicator dye. A narrow scanning X-ray beam is used to excite luminescence from X-ray scintillators located within the beam. This luminescence passes through the indicator film, and the spectrum is analyzed to measure chemical concentrations at that location. A pH sensor is demonstrated with a dynamic range between pH 6-9 and noise level of 0.05 pH units using methyl-red dyed pH paper. The location of the interface between two types of scintillator films is obtained with 0.30 mm spatial resolution even though the images are highly blurred by 10 mm of chicken breast. This work has important applications for detecting pH changes on surfaces of implanted medical devices.

Multifunctional Yolk-in-Shell Nanoparticles for pH-triggered Drug Release and Imaging

Multifunctional nanoparticles are synthesized for both pH-triggered drug release and imaging with radioluminescence, upconversion luminescent, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The particles have a yolk-in-shell morphology, with a radioluminescent core, an upconverting shell, and a hollow region between the core and shell for loading drugs. They are synthesized by controlled encapsulation of a radioluminescent nanophosphor yolk in a silica shell, partial etching of the yolk in acid, and encapsulation of the silica with an upconverting luminescent shell. Metroxantrone, a chemotherapy drug, was loaded into the hollow space between X-ray phosphor yolk and up-conversion phosphor shell through pores in the shell. To encapsulate the drug and control the release rate, the nanoparticles are coated with pH-responsive biocompatible polyelectrolyte layers of charged hyaluronic acid sodium salt and chitosan. The nanophosphors display bright luminescence under X-ray, blue light (480 nm), and near infrared light (980 nm). They also served as T1 and T2 MRI contrast agents with relaxivities of 3.5 mM(-1) s(-1) (r1 ) and 64 mM(-1) s(-1) (r2 ). These multifunctional nanocapsules have applications in controlled drug delivery and multimodal imaging.

Development of luminescent pH sensor films for monitoring bacterial growth through tissue

Although implanted medical devices (IMDs) offer many benefits, they are susceptible to bacterial colonization and infections. Such infections are difficult to treat because bacteria could form biofilms on the implant surface, which reduce antibiotics penetration and generate local dormant regions with low pH and low oxygen. In addition, these infections are hard to detect early because biofilms are often localized on the surface. Herein, an optical sensor film is developed to detect local acidosis on an implanted surface. The film contains both upconverting particles (UCPs) that serve as a light source and a pH indicator that alters the luminescence spectrum. When irradiated with 980 nm light, the UCPs produce deeply penetrating red light emission, while generating negligible autofluorescence in the tissue. The basic form of the pH indicator absorbs more of upconversion luminescence at 661 nm than at 671 nm and consequently the spectral ratio indicates pH. Implanting this pH sensor film beneath 6-7 mm of porcine tissue does not substantially affect the calibration curve because the peaks are closely spaced. Furthermore, growth of Staphylococcus epidermidis on the sensor surface causes a local pH decrease that can be detected non-invasively through the tissue.