Bioengineered bacterial vesicles as biological nano-heaters for optoacoustic imaging.

ABSTRACT: Advances in genetic engineering have enabled the use of bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) to deliver vaccines, drugs and immunotherapy agents, as a strategy to circumvent biocompatibility and large-scale production issues associated with synthetic nanomaterials. We investigate bioengineered OMVs for contrast enhancement in optoacoustic (photoacoustic) imaging. We produce OMVs encapsulating biopolymer-melanin (OMV^Mel) using a bacterial strain expressing a tyrosinase transgene. Our results show that upon near-infrared light irradiation, OMV^Mel generates strong optoacoustic signals appropriate for imaging applications. In addition, we show that OMV^Mel builds up intense heat from the absorbed laser energy and mediates photothermal effects both in vitro a

SUBMITTER: Gujrati V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6405847 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature