Issue 6, 2024

Surface modification effect on contrast agent efficiency for X-ray based spectral photon-counting scanner/luminescence imaging: from fundamental study to in vivo proof of concept

Abstract

X-Ray imaging techniques are among the most widely used modalities in medical imaging and their constant evolution has led to the emergence of new technologies. The new generation of computed tomography (CT) systems – spectral photonic counting CT (SPCCT) and X-ray luminescence optical imaging – are examples of such powerful techniques. With these new technologies the rising demand for new contrast agents has led to extensive research in the field of nanoparticles and the possibility to merge the modalities appears to be highly attractive. In this work, we propose the design of lanthanide-based nanocrystals as a multimodal contrast agent with the two aforementioned technologies, allowing SPCCT and optical imaging at the same time. We present a systematic study on the effect of the Tb3+ doping level and surface modification on the generation of contrast with SPCCT and the luminescence properties of GdF3:Tb3+ nanocrystals (NCs), comparing different surface grafting with organic ligands and coatings with silica to make these NCs bio-compatible. A comparison of the luminescence properties of these NCs with UV revealed that the best results were obtained for the Gd0.9Tb0.1F3 composition. This property was confirmed under X-ray excitation in microCT and with SPCCT. Moreover, we could demonstrate that the intensity of the luminescence and the excited state lifetime are strongly affected by the surface modification. Furthermore, whatever the chemical nature of the ligand, the contrast with SPCCT did not change. Finally, the successful proof of concept of multimodal imaging was performed in vivo with nude mice in the SPCCT taking advantage of the so-called color K-edge imaging method.

Graphical abstract: Surface modification effect on contrast agent efficiency for X-ray based spectral photon-counting scanner/luminescence imaging: from fundamental study to in vivo proof of concept

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 iyl 2023
Accepted
15 okt 2023
First published
17 yan 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 2931-2944

Surface modification effect on contrast agent efficiency for X-ray based spectral photon-counting scanner/luminescence imaging: from fundamental study to in vivo proof of concept

L. Cuau, P. Akl, A. Gautheron, A. Houmeau, F. Chaput, A. Yaromina, L. Dubois, P. Lambin, S. Karpati, S. Parola, B. Rezaeifar, J. Langlois, S. A. Si-Mohamed, B. Montcel, P. Douek and F. Lerouge, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 2931 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR03710J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements