Multimodal Imaging By Polydopamine Nanoparticles for Effective Pre-and Intra-Operative Lymph-Node Screening in Gastric Cancer Using Mice Model

Q: What problem does the study address in gastric cancer lymph-node screening?

Current LN mapping relies on fragmentary single-modal imaging agents, leading to low accuracy for N-staging and poor integration between pre-operative and intra-operative visualization.

Q: What is PPIG NPs and how are they used for imaging?

PPIG NPs are polydopamine-based nanoparticles (PEG-PDA@IR820/Gd(NH2)2) designed as a unified multimodal agent for MR, optical/near-infrared fluorescence, and thermal LN mapping.

Q: How did the approach perform in human gastric cancer specimens compared with conventional inspection?

Guided by dual-modal (optical/NIR) mapping, lymphadenectomy in human gastric specimens achieved a significantly higher LN yield than conventional visual inspection (mean number 55.4 vs 36.8, p < 0.05).

Sep 23, 2026

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Polydopamine-based nanoparticles (PEG-PDA@IR820/Gd(NH2)2, PPIG NPs) were developed as a unified multimodal lymph-node (LN) mapping agent for magnetic resonance, optical/near-infrared fluorescence, and thermal imaging. PPIG NPs were synthesized in tunable size ranges (50–100, 100–150, 150–200 nm) and assessed in vivo for lymphatic drainage kinetics in mice. In mice, PPIG NPs enabled integrative pre-operative MR and intra-operative optical/NIR fluorescence/thermal mapping. In fresh human gastric and colon cancer specimens, PPIG NPs delineated lymphatic vessels and LNs, improving LN yield versus visual inspection and supporting “seebefore-cut” planning and “trace-while-cutting” navigation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background and clinical challenge of lymph-node mapping in gastric cancer

Imaging modalities and limitations

Methods

Design and synthesis of polydopamine-based PPIG NPs

In vivo mouse evaluation and human specimen validation

Results

Size-dependent lymphatic drainage and retention

Integrative pre- and intra-operative multimodal mapping

Improved LN yield and precise vessel identification

Conclusion

International Journal of Nanomedicine Open Access Full Text Article ORIGINAL RESEARCH Multimodal Imaging By Polydopamine Nanoparticles for Effective Pre-and Intra-Operative Lymph-Node Screening in Gastric Cancer Using Mice Model Yanrui Liang 1 , *, Guodong Shen 1 , *, Keyu He 1 , *, Weisheng Wang 1 , *, Bing Xiao 1 , *, Tian Lin 1 , Huilin Huang 1 , Zhenyuan Li 1 , Yingxin Ren 1 , Zean Wang 1 , Yiheng Luo 1 , Weihong Guo 1 , Yanfeng Hu 1 , Guoxin Li 1 , 2 1Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Gastrointestinal Tumor, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China; 2Cancer Center of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence: Guoxin Li; Yanfeng Hu, Department of General Surgery, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Gastrointestinal Tumor, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 1838 North Guangzhou Ave, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510515, People’s Republic of China, Tel +0086-20-6164-1681, [Email gzliguoxin@163.com](Email gzliguoxin@163.com); [yfenghu@qq.com](yfenghu@qq.com) | Introduction: Systematic lymphadenectomy is crucial in gastric cancer surgery for improving patient prognosis. However, current clinical lymph node (LN) mapping relies on fragmentary single-modal imaging agents, which suffer from low accuracy in N-staging and lack integration between preoperative and intraoperative visualization.
Methods: We developed polydopamine-based nanoparticles (PEG-PDA@IR820/Gd(NH2)2) termed PPIG NPs) as a unified multimodal imaging agent for magnetic resonance (MR), optical, near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence, and thermal LN mapping. PPIG NPs were synthesized in three distinct size ranges (50–100 nm, 100–150 nm, 150–200 nm) . Their imaging performance and lymphatic drainage kinetics were evaluated in vivo in a mouse model. Furthermore, the efficacy of PPIG NPs for LN identification was validated in fresh human gastric and colon cancer specimens via subserosal injection.
Results: The differently sized PPIG NPs exhibited tunable and size-dependent lymphatic drainage and retention. In mice, they enabled integrative pre-operative (MR) and intra-operative (optical/NIR fluorescence/thermal) multimodal mapping of popliteal LNs. In human specimens, PPIG NPs specifically delineated lymphatic vessels and LNs. Guided by this dual-modal (optical/NIR) mapping, lymphadenectomy in human gastric specimens achieved a significantly higher LN yield compared to conventional visual inspection (mean number: 55.4 vs 36.8, p < 0.05) . The approach also facilitated the precise identification of residual lymphatic vessels post-dissection. Conclusion: PPIG NPs provide an integrative pre-and intra-operative multimodal LN mapping platform. This strategy, enabling “seebefore-cut” planning and “trace-while-cutting” navigation, demonstrates superior accuracy for LN and lymphatic vessel identification compared to current fragmentary techniques, showing promising potential for guiding precise lymphadenectomy in gastric cancer. Keywords: gastric cancer, lymph node mapping, lymphatic vessels, polydopamine-based nanoparticles, systemic lymphadenectomy | | --- | | Introduction
Gastric cancer (GC) have become a global public health threat. In 2020, there were 770,000 deaths because of GC globally.1 In East Asia, locally advanced gastric cancer (AGC) is still the main challenge in the treatment of GC. As lymph-node (LN) metastasis is an essential factor associated with prognosis of AGC patients, complete resection with standardized LN dissection (D2) is important for AGC.2 For GC has a complex lymphatic drainage system and multiple lymph-node stations, the precise LN imaging is a vital technique for surgeons to visualize LNs pre-and intra-operatively |

FAQs

What problem does the study address in gastric cancer lymph-node screening?

Current LN mapping relies on fragmentary single-modal imaging agents, leading to low accuracy for N-staging and poor integration between pre-operative and intra-operative visualization.

What is PPIG NPs and how are they used for imaging?

PPIG NPs are polydopamine-based nanoparticles (PEG-PDA@IR820/Gd(NH2)2) designed as a unified multimodal agent for MR, optical/near-infrared fluorescence, and thermal LN mapping.

How did the approach perform in human gastric cancer specimens compared with conventional inspection?

Guided by dual-modal (optical/NIR) mapping, lymphadenectomy in human gastric specimens achieved a significantly higher LN yield than conventional visual inspection (mean number 55.4 vs 36.8, p < 0.05).

Sep 23, 2026

Upload by James