Lab talk
Aug 3, 2010
PEGylated dendrimers loaded with gold nanoparticles for theragnosis
Researchers in Japan have prepared a novel theragnostic agent for photothermal therapy as well as CT imaging. The team includes chemists and a physicist from Osaka Prefecture University and pharmacists from Hamamatsu University School of Medicine. The chemists contributed to the preparation of PEG-attached dendrimers loaded with gold NPs, the physicist to laser irradiation for photocytotoxicity and the pharmacists to investigating the CT imaging and in vivo behaviour of the nanoparticles.
Gold NPs were prepared by reducing gold ions in the PEGylated dendrimer. The gold NPs were grown in the dendrimer to enhance photo-responsive properties. Results show that the gold NPs exhibit photocytotoxicity and blood pool enhancement in vivo, which suggests that the group's material is useful for both therapy and diagnosis, in other words theragnosis.
The researchers presented their CT imaging results in the journal Nanotechnology. Information on the material's photocytotoxicity towards HeLa cells can be found in Bioconjugate Chemistry.
About the author
The study was conducted by three research groups at Osaka Prefecture University and a team from Hamamatsu University School of Medicine in Japan. Chie Kojima PhD is based at the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research Center (N2RC); Yasuhito Umeda, Atsushi Harada PhD and Kenji Kono PhD are from the Department of Applied Chemistry; and Hiromichi Horinaka PhD works in the Department of Physics and Electronics at Osaka Prefecture University. Mikako Ogawa PhD and Yasuhiro Magata PhD are pharmacists at Hamamatsu University School of Medicine. CK used to be a member of Kono's group, but currently manages her own research group as a tenure-track lecturer.
