Monitoring lipids uptake in neurodegenerative disorders by SECARS microscopy

Abstract

In this study, we investigated a novel application of Surface-Enhanced Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (SECARS) microscopy for imaging intravenously injected ultra small paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (USPION) in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) experimental model. Experiments were performed on transgenic rat model, expressing multiple copies of mutant (G93A) human SOD-1 gene (hSOD-1G93A), treated with antibodies against CD4+ T cells magnetically labelled with USPION. Marked intensity enhancements have been observed in specific pathological regions of the ALS brain as compared to the wild-type model. The results obtained correlated SECARS enhancements to selective association of lipids to up-taken USPION which shows high accumulation in the brainstem and midbrain region. The work presented shows the promising potential of SECARS microscopy in investigating neurodegenerative disorders in experimental systems using USPION as molecular nanoprobes. © 2010 The Surface Science Society of Japan.