Renal Clearable Gold Nanoparticle-Functionalized Silk Film for in vivo Fluorescent Temperature Mapping

• Main Authors: Wei Hua, Yusheng Mao, Jinzhu Zhang, Lang Liu, Guolin Zhang, Shengyang Yang, Daniel Boyer, Chen Zhou, Fenfen Zheng, Shasha Sun, Shengling Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-05-01
• Series: Frontiers in Chemistry
• Subjects: gold nanoparticles; gold nanoparticles with silk film (AuNPs-SF); temperature sensing; implantable device; fluorescence imaging
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fchem.2020.00364/full

Implantable optical sensing devices that can continuously monitor physiological temperature changes hold great potential toward applications in healthcare and medical field. Here, we present a conceptual foundation for the design of biocompatible temperature sensing device by integrating renal clearable luminescent gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with silk film (AuNPs-SF). We found that the AuNPs display strong temperature dependence in both near-IR fluorescence intensity and lifetime over a large temperature range (10–60°C), with a fluorescence intensity sensitivity of 1.72%/°C and lifetime sensitivity of 0.09 μs/°C. When integrated, the AuNPs with biocompatible silk film are implanted in the dorsal region of mice. The fluorescence imaging of the AuNPs-SF in the body shows a linear relationship between the average fluorescence intensity and temperature. More importantly, <3.68% ID gold are left in the body, and no adverse effect is observed for 8 weeks. This AuNPs-SF can be potentially used as a flexible, biocompatible, and implantable sensing device for in vivo temperature mapping.