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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 8.
Published in final edited form as: Acc Chem Res. 2012 Apr 30;45(11):1854–1865. doi: 10.1021/ar2003122

Figure 4. Effects of active targeting on the in vitro uptake and in vivo pharmacokinetics/biodistribution of anticancer gold nanorods.

Figure 4

(a) Electron micrographs of near-infrared absorbing colloidal gold nanorods and (b) their corresponding distribution of hydrodynamic diameters. (c) Enhanced in vitro binding/uptake of actively targeted gold nanorods as determined by mass spectrometry (ICP). In vitro accumulation of single-chain variable fragment (ScFv), peptide fragment (ATF), and cyclic cell-penetrating peptide (c-RGD) targeted nanorods was significantly enhanced. In contrast, in vivo (d) pharmacokinetics, (e) blood half-lives, (f) biodistribution, and (g) tumor-specific accumulation was only marginally enhanced. Adapted with permission from Ref. 24. Copyright 2010 American Chemical Society.