Gold nanoparticle imaging boosts cancer treatment

Traditional imaging methods often involve tracers like fluorescent dyes and radioisotopes, which give limited visualisation and inaccurate results due to detachment from AuNPs.

Now, researchers from Waseda University in Japan have introduced a new imaging technique that uses neutron activation to transform stable gold into a radioisotope of gold that enables long-term tracking of the AuNPs within the body.

The study was led by Nanase Koshikawa, a PhD student in the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Waseda University, and Jun Kataoka, a Professor in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Waseda University, in collaboration with Osaka University and Kyoto University. The findings of this study are published in Applied Physics Letters.

“Traditional imaging methods involve external tracers, which may detach during circulation,” Koshikawa said in a statement. “To overcome this limitation, we directly altered the AuNPs, making them detectable via X-rays and gamma rays without the use of external tracers.”