Iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) hyperthermia is an emerging treatment that shows great potential as a cancer therapy both alone and in synergy with conventional modalities. Pre-clinical studies are attempting to elucidate the mechanisms of action and distributions of IONP in various in vitro and in vivo models, however these studies would greatly benefit from real-time imaging of IONP locations both in cellular and in mammalian systems. To this end, fluorescently-tagged IONP (fIONP) have been employed for real time tracking and co-registration of IONP with iron content. Starch-coated IONP were fluorescently-tagged, purified and analyzed for fluorescent signal at various concentrations. fIONP were incubated with MTGB cells for varying times and cellular uptake analyzed using confocal microscopy, flow cytometry and inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). fIONP were also injected into a bilateral mouse tumor model for radiation modification of tumor tissue and enhanced fIONP deposition assessed using a Xenogen IVIS fluorescent imager. Results demonstrated that fIONP concentrations in vitro correlated with ICPMS iron readings. fIONP could be tracked in vitro as well as in tissue samples from an in vivo model. Future work will employ whole animal fluorescent imaging to track the biodistribution of fIONP over time.

Date Published: 26 February 2013
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8584, Energy-based Treatment of Tissue and Assessment VII, 85840I (26 February 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2007607

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8584:
Energy-based Treatment of Tissue and Assessment VII
Thomas P. Ryan, Editor(s)