In situ synthesis of graphene oxide/gold nanorods theranostic hybrids for efficient tumor computed tomography imaging and photothermal therapy

• Published in: Nano research Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 37 - 48
• Main Authors: Sun, Bingmei, Wu, Jinrui, Cui, Shaobin, Zhu, Huanhuan, An, Wei, Fu, Qingge, Shao, Chengwei, Yao, Aihua, Chen, Bingdi, Shi, Donglu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Chemistry and Materials Science; Computation; Computed tomography; Computer aided tomography; Condensed Matter Physics; Gold; Graphene; Hybrids; Imaging; Irradiation; Materials Science; Medical imaging; Nanorods; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Optical properties; Polystyrene; Polystyrene resins; Research Article; Seeds; Synthesis; Tumors; Xenografts; graphene oxide/gold nanorods; computed tomography imaging; growth; photothermal therapy
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-016-1264-x

Graphene oxide/gold nanorod （GO/GNR） nanohybrids were synthesized with a GO- and gold-seed-mediated in situ growth method at room temperature by mixing polystyrene sulfonate （PSS） functionalized GO, secondary growth solution, and gold seeds. Compared with ex situ preparation methods of GO/GNRs or graphene （G）/GNRs, the in situ synthesis of GO/GNRs addressed the issue of the aggregation of the GNRs before their attachment onto the GO. The method is straightforward and environment-friendly; The GO/GNRs showed a remarkable photothermal effect in vitro. The temperature of the GO/GNR nanohybrids increased from 25 to 49.9 ℃ at a concentration of 50 μg/mL after irradiation with an 808-nm laser （0.4 W/cm2） for 6 min. Additionally; the GO/GNRs exhibited good optical and morphological stability and photothermal properties after six cycles of laser irradiation. Upon injection of the GO/GNRs into xenograft tumors, excellent computed tomography （CT） imaging properties and photothermal effect were obtained. The preclinical CT agent iohexol was combined with the GO/GNRs and further enhanced CT imaging. Therefore, the GO/GNR nanohybrids have great potential for predse CT-image-guided tumor photothermal treatment.