Light-driven liquid metal nanotransformers for biomedical theranostics

Room temperature liquid metals (LMs) represent a class of emerging multifunctional materials with attractive novel properties. Here, we show that photopolymerized LMs present a unique nanoscale capsule structure characterized by high water dispersibility and low toxicity. We also demonstrate that th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2017-05, Vol.8 (1), p.15432-19, Article 15432
Main Authors: Chechetka, Svetlana A., Yu, Yue, Zhen, Xu, Pramanik, Manojit, Pu, Kanyi, Miyako, Eijiro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Biocompatibility
Blood vessels
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lasers
Metals
Morphology
multidisciplinary
Optical properties
Polyethylene glycol
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Toxicity
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Summary:Room temperature liquid metals (LMs) represent a class of emerging multifunctional materials with attractive novel properties. Here, we show that photopolymerized LMs present a unique nanoscale capsule structure characterized by high water dispersibility and low toxicity. We also demonstrate that the LM nanocapsule generates heat and reactive oxygen species under biologically neutral near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. Concomitantly, NIR laser exposure induces a transformation in LM shape, destruction of the nanocapsules, contactless controlled release of the loaded drugs, optical manipulations of a microfluidic blood vessel model and spatiotemporal targeted marking for X-ray-enhanced imaging in biological organs and a living mouse. By exploiting the physicochemical properties of LMs, we achieve effective cancer cell elimination and control of intercellular calcium ion flux. In addition, LMs display a photoacoustic effect in living animals during NIR laser treatment, making this system a powerful tool for bioimaging. Liquid metals are excellent candidate materials for biomedicine, owing to their intriguing optical properties and chemical stability. Here, the authors design multifunctional theranostic liquid metal nanocapsules that, upon irradiation, generate heat and reactive oxygen species and change shape to release drugs.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms15432