In Vivo Monitoring of Intravenously Injected Gold Nanorods Using Near‐Infrared Light

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Gold nanorods showing surface plasmon (SP) bands in the near‐IR region are used as bioimaging probes that respond to near‐IR light in mice. The SP bands of intravenously injected polyethylene glycol‐modified gold nanorods are directly monitored from the mouse abdomen by using a spectrophotometer equipped with an integrating sphere. The absorbance at 900 nm from the gold nanorods immediately increases after injection and reaches a plateau. The injection of phosphatidylcholine‐modified gold nanorods also increases the absorbance at 900 nm, but the absorbance decreases single exponentially with a 1.3‐min half‐life. In vivo spectral changes of gold nanorods depend on the surface characteristics, and can be observed in real time using simple spectroscopic measurements.