Title: Treatment efficacy of laser photothermal therapy using gold nanorods

Authors: Navid Manuchehrabadi; Raheleh Toughiri; Charles Bieberich; Hong Cai; Anilchandra Attaluri; Raymond Edziah; Elaine Lalanne; Anthony M. Johnson; Ronghui Ma; Liang Zhu

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Department of Biology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Department of Biology, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA; Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA; Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Center for Advanced Studies in Photonics Research, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA; Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA

Abstract: In vivo experiments are performed to induce temperature elevations in implanted prostatic tumours in mice using 0.1 ml commercially available gold nanorod solution injected into the tumour. Tumour shrinkage studies and histological analyses of tumour cell death are conducted, and the equivalent minutes at 43°C (EM₄₃) for inducing tissue thermal damage are estimated based on temperature elevations during the treatment. It has been shown that the laser heating of 15 minutes in the tumour tissue containing gold nanorods is effective to cause irreversible thermal damage to the tumours, with a low laser irradiance on the tumour surface (1.6 W/cm²). The effectiveness of the heating protocol is demonstrated by tumour shrinkage to 7% of its original volume on the 25th day after the laser treatment and tumour necrosis events observed by histological analyses. The results are consistent with the EM₄₃ distribution estimated by possible temperature elevations during the treatment.

Keywords: bioheat transfer; gold nanorods; laser photothermal therapy; histological analysis; tumour shrinkage; EM43; heat transfer; treatment efficacy; nanotechnology; tissue thermal damage; tissue damage; temperature elevation; laser heating; tumours; hyperthermia; cancer cells.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2013.056508

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2013 Vol.12 No.2, pp.157 - 176

Received: 20 Mar 2013
Accepted: 11 Jul 2013
Published online: 27 Sep 2014 *

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