Nanoantennas heat up

Sangeeta N. Bhatia, Geoffrey von Maltzahn and colleagues have reported that multifunctional nanoparticles, called nanoantennas, are on their way to becoming useful in patient therapy. Nanoantennas are gold nanorods 13-nm wide and 47-nm long, selected for their strong absorbance of near-infrared light with minimal non-specific interaction with tissue. The group conjugated a nontoxic polymer to the surface of the nanorods to enhance the circulating time and improve biocompatibility. The modified particles were found to be highly stable under physiological conditions with circulation half-time of 17 hours. Raman dyes attached to the particles were tracked in vivo by Raman spectroscopy for ultrasensitive detection with the use of a surface-enhanced Raman scattering technique that enhanced the Raman scattering of dyes on the surface of gold up to 1014-fold, making it possible to detect attomolar concentrations of particles within tumor tissue.