Figure 3.

(A) Schematic illustration of passive tumor targeting by GSH-Au NCs and IR Dye 800CW. In vivo NIR fluorescence images of MCF-7 tumor-bearing mice intravenously injected with GSH-Au NCs and IRDye 800CW collected at 0.5, 3, and 12 h post-injection. The tumor areas are indicated with arrows. Organ distribution of GSH-Au NCs and IRDye 800CW. Labels: 1, tumor; 2, liver; 3, lung; 4, spleen; 5, heart; 6, kidney (left); 7, kidney (right). Reprinted with permission from Ref. 131. Copyright © 2013, American Chemical Society. (B) A schematic representative of controllable assembly of paired Au NCs within ferritin nanoreactor for in vivo kidney targeting and imaging. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 43. Copyright © 2011, American Chemical Society. (C) Schematic illustration of the complex of Ag⁺ with GSH to form the biosynthesized Ag NCs for in vivo bioimaging study in xenograft tumor nude mice models of cervical carcinoma. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 138. Copyright © 2014, Nature Publishing Group. (D) Self-illuminating ⁶⁴Cu-doped Au NCs for in vivo synergistic dual-modality positron emission tomography (PET) and self-illuminating NIR imaging. PET radionuclide ⁶⁴Cu plays dual roles as the positron-emitting radionuclide (tracer) for PET imaging as well as the energy donor to excite Au NCs. The Au NCs as the energy acceptor was adopted for self-illuminating NIR fluorescence imaging. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 141. Copyright © 2014, Elsevier.