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Nano Research 2013, 6(5): 312-325 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0308-8
Research Article | Issue | Published: 12 April 2013

A green synthesis of carbon nanoparticles from honey and their use in real-time photoacoustic imaging

Show Author's Information Lina Wu1,2,§,  Xin Cai3,§,  Kate Nelson4,  Wenxin Xing3,  Jun Xia3,  Ruiying Zhang3,  Allen J. Stacy1,  Micah Luderer1,  Gregory M. Lanza1,  Lihong V. Wang3( ),  Baozhong Shen2( ),  Dipanjan Pan1( )
C-TRAIN and Division of Cardiology Washington University School of Medicine 4320 Forest Park AvenueSaint Louis MO 63108 USA
Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging in College of Heilongjiang Province Department of Radiology the 4th Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical UniversityHarbin 150001 China
Optical Imaging Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1097St. Louis MO 63130 USA
Nano Research Facility (NNIN-NSF) Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis MO 63130 USA

§These authors contributed equally to this work

Keywords:
contrast agents, photoacoustic tomography, carbon nanoparticle, honey, real-time imaging
Cite this article:
Wu L, Cai X, Nelson K, et al. A green synthesis of carbon nanoparticles from honey and their use in real-time photoacoustic imaging. Nano Research, 2013, 6(5): 312-325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-013-0308-8
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Imaging sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) could provide us with critical information about the progression of a cancerous disease. Real-time high-resolution intraoperative photoacoustic imaging (PAI) in conjunction with a near-infrared (NIR) probe may offer opportunities for the immediate imaging for direct identification and resection of SLN or collecting tissue samples. In this work a commercially amenable synthetic methodology is revealed for fabricating luminescent carbon nanoparticles with rapid clearance properties. A one-pot "green" technique is pursued, which involved rapid surface passivation of carbon nanoparticles with organic macromolecules (e.g., polysorbate, polyethyleneglycol) in solvent-free conditions. Interestingly, the naked carbon nanoparticles are derived for the first time, from commercial food grade honey. Surface coated particles are markedly smaller (~7 nm) than previously explored particles (gold, single-walled carbon nanotubes, copper) for SLN imaging. The results indicate an exceptionally rapid signal enhancement (~2 min) of the SLN. Owing to their strong optical absorption in the NIR region, tiny size and rapid lymphatic transport, this platform offers great potential for faster resection of SLN and may lower complications caused in axillary investigation by mismarking with dyes or low-resolution imaging techniques.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

A green synthesis of carbon nanoparticles from honey and their use in real-time photoacoustic imaging

Show Author's information Lina Wu1,2,§, Xin Cai3,§, Kate Nelson4, Wenxin Xing3, Jun Xia3, Ruiying Zhang3, Allen J. Stacy1, Micah Luderer1, Gregory M. Lanza1, Lihong V. Wang3( ), Baozhong Shen2( ), Dipanjan Pan1( )
C-TRAIN and Division of Cardiology Washington University School of Medicine 4320 Forest Park AvenueSaint Louis MO 63108 USA
Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging in College of Heilongjiang Province Department of Radiology the 4th Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical UniversityHarbin 150001 China
Optical Imaging Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1097St. Louis MO 63130 USA
Nano Research Facility (NNIN-NSF) Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis MO 63130 USA

§These authors contributed equally to this work

Abstract

Imaging sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) could provide us with critical information about the progression of a cancerous disease. Real-time high-resolution intraoperative photoacoustic imaging (PAI) in conjunction with a near-infrared (NIR) probe may offer opportunities for the immediate imaging for direct identification and resection of SLN or collecting tissue samples. In this work a commercially amenable synthetic methodology is revealed for fabricating luminescent carbon nanoparticles with rapid clearance properties. A one-pot "green" technique is pursued, which involved rapid surface passivation of carbon nanoparticles with organic macromolecules (e.g., polysorbate, polyethyleneglycol) in solvent-free conditions. Interestingly, the naked carbon nanoparticles are derived for the first time, from commercial food grade honey. Surface coated particles are markedly smaller (~7 nm) than previously explored particles (gold, single-walled carbon nanotubes, copper) for SLN imaging. The results indicate an exceptionally rapid signal enhancement (~2 min) of the SLN. Owing to their strong optical absorption in the NIR region, tiny size and rapid lymphatic transport, this platform offers great potential for faster resection of SLN and may lower complications caused in axillary investigation by mismarking with dyes or low-resolution imaging techniques.

Keywords: contrast agents, photoacoustic tomography, carbon nanoparticle, honey, real-time imaging

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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 11 February 2013
Revised: 14 March 2013
Accepted: 16 March 2013
Published: 12 April 2013
Issue date: May 2013

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The financial support from the American Heart Association (AHA) Nos. 0835426N and 11IRG5690011 and National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the Grants Nos. NS059302, CA119342, R01 EB000712, R01 EB008085, R01 CA134539, and U54 Nos. CA136398 and HL073646 and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the Grant No. N01CO37007 is greatly appreciated. L.W. and B.S. appreciate the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81101087, 81130028, and 31210103913), China Scholarship Council (No. 2011823056), Science and Technology Research Project of Heilongjiang Education Department (No. 12511325), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2012M510992) and Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Foundation (No. LBH-Z11054), TEM, SEM, and AFM were conducted at the Nano Research Facility, a member of National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network-National Science Foundation (NNIN-NSF) under Grant No. ECS-0335765.

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