Development of an advanced diagnostic concept for intestinal inflammation: molecular visualisation of nitric oxide in macrophages by functional poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres

• Kathleen Lange,
• Christian Lautenschläger,
• Maria Wallert,
• Stefan Lorkowski,
• Andreas Stallmach and
• Alexander Schiller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1637–1641, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.163

• inflammatory and immunological processes. Furthermore, our results on particle-based NO sensing and previous studies in targeting intestinal inflammation via (PLGA)-based microspheres demonstrate that an advanced concept for visualizing intestinal inflammation is tangible. Keywords: functional imaging

• ; intestinal inflammation; microparticle; molecular imaging; nitric oxide; Introduction Inflammation and malignancies are fundamental aspects of many human diseases. Nitric oxide (NO) has been proposed to be an important mediator of inflammation and carcinogenesis. Chronic inflammation, as found in

• approach is based on the epithelial barrier dysfunction of the intestine during intestinal inflammation. The intestinal barrier shows an increased permeability by disabled tight junction proteins, alterations in the thickness and composition of the mucus. Thus, particles penetrate and accumulate only into