2023-08-25 16:45:58
Scientists have developed probes based on silver sulfide nanoparticles to achieve high-resolution luminescence images of the interior of the eye, thus facilitating the diagnosis of eye diseases.
The achievement is the work of researchers from the Madrid Institute of Materials Science (ICMM) and the Margarita Salas Biological Research Center (CIB), both entities attached to the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in Spain.
To create these probes, the researchers have used silver sulfide nanoparticles, which emit light in the infrared range (that is, they are luminescent). These sensors, applied to the optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique, which is very common and powerful for diagnosing eye diseases, act in a dual way: they behave as contrast agents in OCT and, in addition, they allow obtaining high-resolution luminescence infrared images of the interior of the eye.
Beatriz H. Juárez, a scientist at ICMM and one of the main authors of the study, highlights that this double function of nanoparticles “facilitates the development of new diagnostic methods for eye diseases.”
This is due to the improvement in the quality of diagnostic images associated with the ability of the probes to “emit a very bright light capable of passing through tissues and a high light scattering power”, explains the researcher from the Autonomous University of Madrid and co-main author of the work Emma Martín Rodríguez.
These results have been possible thanks to the use of a type of biocompatible polymeric material “that surrounds the surface of the nanoparticles, controls the size of the probes and provides a protective layer that preserves the infrared light emission properties of the nanoparticles”. explains ICMM researcher Amalia Coro.
Artist’s rendering of nanoparticles. (Illustration: Amazings/NCYT)
The CIC-biomaGUNE (Biomaterials Cooperative Research Center Association) and the IMDEA Nanoscience Foundation have also taken part in the work, carried out on mouse models.
“By expanding the possibilities of OCT, our research could have a significant impact on diagnosis, as well as facilitating monitoring of the therapeutic potential of new treatments for retinal diseases,” concludes Enrique J. de la Rosa, a CIB researcher. .
The study is titled “Ag2S Biocompatible Ensembles as Dual OCT Contrast Agents and NIR Ocular Imaging Probes”. And it has been published in the academic journal Small. (Source: ICMM / CSIC / CIB)
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