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In the cave
Developing new treatments for cancer optimized with nanoparticles

Nanoparticles represent an increasing source of hope in the medical field for new, more effective and more accurate treatments aimed at fighting cancerous cells.

Plasma generated using a pulsed laser beam. Credits: © Institute of Light and Matter (ILM) - Vincent Motto-Ros

These images are a product of the artist Éric Michel's creative approach. They have an aesthetic dimension but also derive from the results of studies of the distribution of nanoparticles in biological tissues. More specifically, the subject of this research focuses on how they are eliminated after having been injected into rodent models.

Thanks to elementary imaging of these tissues, we can examine how they are distributed in the kidney, spleen, heart and liver. By convention, green represents gadolinium nanoparticles. The objective of this work is to analyze the times these substances take to disappear from a subject's organism.

To obtain this information, the researchers generate a plasma using a pulsed laser beam. The rays emitted by the plasma specifically depend on the elements contained in the tissue and are analyzed using spectroscopy. The idea of the work was to find out how the nanoparticles are eliminated to see if the findings correlated with other parameters.

Work on the disappearance of nanoparticles injected into the organism is essential because if they are not eliminated they can be harmful for the subject's health. The end goal of this research is to develop effective treatments for cancer.

Thanks to Vincent Motto-Ros for his contribution.

Basic image of a slice of a mouse kidney showing the distribution of gadolinium nanoparticles which had been injected into the animal. Credits: © Institute of Light and Matter (ILM) - Vincent Motto-Ros

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