Nowadays, health problems caused by metabolic syndrome have become a social problem, and brown adipose tissue, which has a function of burning fat to generate heat, is attracting attention.
The Industrial Technology Research Institute and the National Medical Research Center have announced a technology for inexpensive and clear imaging of brown adipose tissue in collaboration with Professor Yuko Okamatsu of Hokkaido University and Professor Kazuhiko Ishihara of the University of Tokyo.
Conventionally, a method (PET-CT) that combines positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) has been used for observing brown adipose tissue, but problems such as the high cost of equipment and radiation exposure have been used. , There was a problem.Therefore, the research group has been aiming at the application of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) that emit near-infrared light fluorescence with low toxicity and high biopermeability.
In this study, we discovered that SWCNT (PMB-SWCNT) whose surface was coated with PMB, which is a kind of MPC polymer with high biocompatibility developed by the University of Tokyo, selectively deposits in the brown adipose tissue of mice.By performing near-infrared fluorescence imaging using it as a probe, brown adipose tissue can be observed in real time in a non-invasive manner.
In the future, PMB-SWCNT is expected to make a significant contribution to the development of preventive and therapeutic methods for metabolic syndrome.
