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Upconversion Nanoparticles as Imaging Agents for Dental Caries.

Julia C Bulmahn1,2,3, Andrey N Kuzmin3, Carol Parker4

  • 1Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics, Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, United States.

Chemical & Biomedical Imaging
|September 29, 2023
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Summary

New upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) show promise for detecting dental caries. These nanoparticles can be targeted to specific sites, enabling sensitive, noninvasive imaging of demineralized enamel and oral biofilm formation.

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Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Nanotechnology
  • Dental Research

Background:

  • Dental caries is the most common global disease, yet current detection methods lack sensitivity and are prone to subjective interpretation.
  • There is a critical need for advanced, noninvasive imaging techniques for accurate early detection of dental caries.
  • Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) offer unique optical properties for potential biomedical imaging applications.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and evaluate novel upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) for sensitive, noninvasive imaging of dental caries.
  • To functionalize UCNPs with targeting ligands for enhanced binding to demineralized enamel and oral biofilms.
  • To assess the efficacy of targeted UCNPs in detecting artificial carious lesions and bacterial presence.

Main Methods:

  • Synthesized 30 nm core@shell NaYF4; Yb20%, Er2%@NaYF4 upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs).
  • Modified UCNPs with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) or poly-d-lysine (PDL) and conjugated targeting peptides for hydroxyapatite (HA) or *Streptococcus mutans*.
  • Evaluated UCNP binding affinity to HA and *S. mutans* biofilms using upconversion fluorescence and elemental analysis (ICP-OES).

Main Results:

  • Targeted UCNPs demonstrated statistically significant binding to hydroxyapatite compared to non-targeted UCNPs (p < 0.001).
  • HA-targeted UCNPs successfully visualized artificial enamel defects (0.5-1.0 mm) via green upconversion emission.
  • Targeted UCNPs showed significantly higher binding to *S. mutans* biofilms than non-targeted UCNPs (p = 0.0125).

Conclusions:

  • Functionalized upconversion nanoparticles show high specificity and sensitivity for detecting demineralized enamel and oral biofilms.
  • These targeted UCNPs hold significant potential for noninvasive imaging-based diagnosis of dental caries.
  • The developed UCNP system offers a promising advancement over current subjective and less sensitive dental caries detection methods.