In-vivo magnetic resonance imaging of hyperpolarized silicon particles

Abstract

Silicon-based micro and nanoparticles have gained popularity in a wide range of biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability in-vivo, as well as a flexible surface chemistry, which allows drug loading, functionalization and targeting. Here we report direct in-vivo imaging of hyperpolarized 29Si nuclei in silicon microparticles by MRI. Natural physical properties of silicon provide surface electronic states for dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), extremely long depolarization times, insensitivity to the in-vivo environment or particle tumbling, and surfaces favorable for functionalization. Potential applications to gastrointestinal, intravascular, and tumor perfusion imaging at sub-picomolar concentrations are presented. These results demonstrate a new background-free imaging modality applicable to a range of inexpensive, readily available, and biocompatible Si particles.

Supplemental Material included

References in corpus (8)

• Coherence Time of a Solid-State Nuclear Qubit
• Hyperpolarized Long-T1 Silicon Nanoparticles for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Dynamic Nuclear Polarization in Silicon Microparticles
• Synthesis of Long-T1 Silicon Nanoparticles for Hyperpolarized 29Si Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Fast nuclear spin hyperpolarization of phosphorus in silicon
• Anomalies in the NMR of Silicon: Unexpected Spin Echoes in a Dilute Dipolar Solid
• Generating Unexpected Spin Echoes in Dipolar Solids with Pi Pulses
• Decay of nuclear hyperpolarization in silicon microparticles

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Optical polarization of nuclear spins in silicon carbide
• Hyperpolarized Nanodiamond with Long Spin Relaxation Times
• Theoretical model of the dynamic spin polarization of nuclei coupled to paramagnetic point defects in diamond and silicon carbide
• Large Room Temperature Bulk DNP of ${}^{13}$C via P1 Centers in Diamond
• Tailored nanodiamonds for hyperpolarized 13C MRI
• Chemisorption of water on the surface of silicon microparticles measured by DNP-enhanced NMR
• Design and characterization of a W-band system for modulated DNP experiments
• Room Temperature DNP of Diamond Powder Using Frequency Modulation
• DNP-NMR of surface hydrogen on silicon microparticles
• Optical dynamic nuclear polarization of ${}^{13}$C spins in diamond at a low field with multi-tone microwave irradiation
• Controlled synthesis and characterization of porous silicon nanoparticles for dynamic nuclear polarization
• Nanodiamond-enhanced MRI