New way to produce in vivo image for diagnosis -- Luminescence nanoagents
Talking about in vivo image, the image showing the inside of body like bones and organs, you may think of X-ray immediately. However, X-ray techniques cannot give us very detailed information.
We can see shape and amount of bones in the above photo, but micro damages of the bones are unable to be shown. For large bone fracture, we can simply use X-ray to locate it. But for small or micro bone fracture, X-ray is not good enough to detect it.
Now luminescence nanoagents are developed in order to provide diagnosis of those micro cracks of the bones. These luminescence nanoagetns consist of metal ions and gold nanoparticles. They are luminous and so can be detected.
The luminescence nanoagents can adhere on the damaged zone of the bones as there will be calcium ion exposed without any protection. This property allows the luminescence nanoagents to differentiate the damaged zone and healthy zone of the bones. Once we detected the luminosity, we can see that damaged zone are highlighted by the nanoagents.
This technique is safe as the nanoagent is in low concentration and expected to be excreted in a short time. The images produce are 3D, no X-ray radiation and the most important is that the image produced can show micro details. This technique may have an important role in the development of diagnosis.