Ultra-Early Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Rats Using Ultrasound Imaging of Hollow Double-Layer Silica Nanospheres

Timely diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) strongly impacts the survival rate of patients. The authors report the development of a two-shell hollow silica contrast agent useful for ultrasound (US) imaging, which is able to provide ultra-early diagnosis of AMI. To target the characterization of fast blood flow and high blood pressure in the heart, two shells of hollow silica are adopted with opposite polarities, which assemble based on amino and perfluorodecyl silanes. The external amino silane facilitates the attachment of disease-targeted groups, while the internal perfluorodecyl silane provides great US imaging contrast. The material also possesses superior water dispersity, controllable morphology, low toxicity, and biodegradability both in vitro and in vivo, thus promoting its applications in the ultra-early diagnosis of AMI in rats, and is particularly useful for delineation of myocardial necrosis sites.