Precious metal clusters as fundamental agents in bioimaging usability

Xiaoxiao He; Shaojun Liu; Xi Hu; Xiongyi Huang; Hehua Zhang; Xiang Mao

doi:10.3389/fchem.2023.1296036

Precious metal clusters as fundamental agents in bioimaging usability

Front Chem. 2023 Nov 9:11:1296036. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1296036. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaoxiao He¹, Shaojun Liu^{2

3}, Xi Hu^{2

3}, Xiongyi Huang¹, Hehua Zhang¹, Xiang Mao^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Engineering, Daping Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
³ Chongqing Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

Fluorescent nanomaterials (NMs) are widely used in imaging techniques in biomedical research. Especially in bioimaging systems, with the rapid development of imaging nanotechnology, precious metal clusters such as Au, Ag, and Cu NMs have emerged with different functional agents for biomedical applications. Compared with traditional fluorescent molecules, precious metal clusters have the advantages of high optical stability, easy regulation of shape and size, and multifunctionalization. In addition, NMs possess strong photoluminescent properties with good photostability, high release rate, and sub-nanometer size. They could be treated as fundamental agents in bioimaging usability. This review summarizes the recent advances in bioimaging utilization, it conveys that metal clusters refer to Au, Ag, and Cu fluorescent clusters and could provide a generalized overview of their full applications. It includes optical property measurement, precious metal clusters in bioimaging systems, and a rare earth element-doped heterogeneous structure illustrated in biomedical imaging with specific examples, that provide new and innovative ideas for fluorescent NMs in the field of bioimaging usability.

Keywords: bio-imaging; clusters; fluorescent property; optical stability; precious metals.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The authors declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Chongqing Municipal Natural Science Foundation: CSTB2022NSCQ-MSX0113; Scientific Foundation Project of Chongqing Education Commission: KJQN201900436.