New nanoparticles ‘can perform two types of imaging simultaneously’

Medical imaging techniques in future could be revolutionised by the creation of new nanoparticles that can perform two functions at the same time.

Developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the nanoparticles can simultaneously be used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorescent imaging in animals.

Lab research tested the particles, which can carry distinct sensors for fluorescence and MRI, as a means of tracking vitamin C in mice. Where there was a high concentration of vitamin C, the particles show a strong fluorescent signal but little MRI contrast, a pattern that was reversed when there was not much vitamin C.

Future versions of the particles could be designed to detect reactive oxygen species that often correlate with disease, or to detect more than one molecule at a time. This could make it possible to monitor a tumour's environment or determine whether drugs have successfully reached their targets.

Jeremiah Johnson, an assistant professor of chemistry at MIT and senior author of the study, said: "Someday you might be able to inject this in a patient and obtain real-time biochemical information about disease sites and also healthy tissues, which is not always straightforward."