A non-invasive nanoparticles for multimodal imaging of ischemic myocardium in rats

Background Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and imposes a serious economic load. Thus, it is crucial to perform a timely and accurate diagnosis and monitoring in the early stage of myocardial ischemia. Currently, nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as promising tools for multimodal imaging, because of their advantages of non-invasion, high-safety, and real-time dynamic imaging, providing valuable information for the diagnosis of heart diseases. Results In this study, we prepared a targeted nanoprobe (termed IMTP-Fe3O4-PFH NPs) with enhanced ultrasound (US), photoacoustic (PA), and magnetic resonance (MR) performance for direct and non-invasive visual imaging of ischemic myocardium in a rat model. This successfully designed nanoprobe had excellent properties such as nanoscale size, good stability, phase transformation by acoustic droplet vaporization (ADV), and favorable safety profile. Besides, it realized obvious targeting performance toward hypoxia-injured cells as well as model rat hearts. After injection of NPs through the tail vein of model rats, in vivo imaging results showed a significantly enhanced US/PA/MR signal, well indicating the remarkable feasibility of nanoprobe to distinguish the ischemic myocardium. Conclusions IMTP-Fe3O4-PFH NPs may be a promising nanoplatform for early detection of ischemic myocardium and targeted treatment under visualization for the future.