Biocompatible Upconverting Nanoprobes for Dual-Modal Imaging and Temperature Sensing

Egle Ezerskyte; Augustas Morkvenas; Jonas Venius; Simas Sakirzanovas; Vitalijus Karabanovas; Arturas Katelnikovas; Vaidas Klimkevicius

doi:10.1021/acsanm.3c06111

Biocompatible Upconverting Nanoprobes for Dual-Modal Imaging and Temperature Sensing

ACS Appl Nano Mater. 2024 Mar 5;7(6):6185-6195. doi: 10.1021/acsanm.3c06111. eCollection 2024 Mar 22.

Authors

Egle Ezerskyte^{1

2}, Augustas Morkvenas^{2

3}, Jonas Venius², Simas Sakirzanovas¹, Vitalijus Karabanovas^{2

3}, Arturas Katelnikovas¹, Vaidas Klimkevicius^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Geosciences, Vilnius University, Naugarduko 24, LT-03225 Vilnius, Lithuania.
² Biomedical Physics Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Baublio 3b, LT-08406 Vilnius, Lithuania.
³ Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio 11, LT-10223 Vilnius, Lithuania.

Abstract

The demand for multimodal nanomaterials has intensified in recent years driven by the need for ultrasensitive bioimaging probes and accurate temperature monitoring in biological objects. Among the different multimodal nanomaterials that have been extensively studied in the past decade, upconverting nanoparticles are among the most promising. In this paper, we report the synthesis of upconverting nanoparticles with complex core-shell compositions, capable of being excited by 808 or 980 nm laser irradiation and exhibiting a good MRI response. The synthesized nanoparticles also demonstrated high colloidal stability in both aqueous and biological media as well as temperature-sensing capabilities, including the physiological range. Furthermore, the upconversion nanoparticles exhibited significantly lower cytotoxicity for HEK293T cells than the commercially available MRI contrast agent Gd-DTPA.