Purpose: Liver fluke causes severe liver damage in an infected human. However, the infection often remains neglected due to the lack of pathognomonic signs. Nanoparticle-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a promising technique for detecting liver lesions induced by parasites. Materials and methods: Surface modification of iron oxide nanoparticles produced by coprecipitation from a solution of Fe³⁺ and Fe²⁺ salts using 3-aminopropylsilane (APS) was carried out. The APS-modified nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis . Magnetic resonance properties of MNPs were investigated in vitro and in vivo. Results: The amount of APS grafted on the surface of nanoparticles (0.60±0.06 mmol g^-1) was calculated based on elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopy data. According to transmission electron microscopy data, there were no essential changes in the structure of nanoparticles during the modification. The APS-modified nanoparticles exhibit high magnetic properties; the calculated relaxivity r₂ was 271 mmol^-1 s^-1. To obtain suspension with optimal hydrodynamic characteristics, amino groups on the surface of nanoparticles were converted into an ionic form with HCl. Cellular uptake of modified nanoparticles by rat hepatoma cells and human monocytes in vitro was 74.1±4.5 and 10.0±3.7 pg [Fe] per cell, respectively. Low cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles was confirmed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and Annexin V/7-aminoactinomycin D flow cytometry assays. For the first time, magnetic nanoparticles were applied for contrast-enhanced MRI of liver lesions induced by Opisthorchis felineus. Conclusion: The synthesized APS-modified iron oxide nanoparticles showed high efficiency as an MRI contrast agent for the evaluation of opisthorchiasis-related liver damage.

This review considers glioma molecular markers in brain tissues and body fluids, shows the pathways of their formation, and describes traditional methods of analysis. The most important optical properties of glioma markers in the terahertz (THz) frequency range are also presented. New metamaterial-based technologies for molecular marker detection at THz frequencies are discussed. A variety of machine learning methods, which allow the marker detection sensitivity and differentiation of healthy and tumor tissues to be improved with the aid of THz tools, are considered. The actual results on the application of THz techniques in the intraoperative diagnosis of brain gliomas are shown. THz technologies’ potential in molecular marker detection and defining the boundaries of the glioma’s tissue is discussed.

Multifunctional gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) may serve as a scaffold to integrate diagnostic and therapeutic functions into one theranostic system, thereby simultaneously facilitating diagnosis and therapy and monitoring therapeutic responses. Herein, albumin-AuNP theranostic agents have been obtained by conjugation of an anticancer nucleotide trifluorothymidine (TFT) or a boron-neutron capture therapy drug undecahydro-closo-dodecaborate (B₁₂H₁₂) to bimodal human serum albumin (HSA) followed by reacting of the albumin conjugates with AuNPs. In vitro studies have revealed a stronger cytotoxicity by the AuNPs decorated with the TFT-tagged bimodal HSA than by the boronated albumin conjugates. Despite long circulation time, lack of the significant accumulation in the tumor was observed for the AuNP theranostic conjugates. Our unique labelling strategy allows for monitoring of spatial distribution of the AuNPs theranostic in vivo in real time with high sensitivity, thus reducing the number of animals required for testing and optimizing new nanosystems as chemotherapeutic agents and boron-neutron capture therapy drug candidates.

Hemozoin is the pigment produced by some blood-feeding parasites. It demonstrates high diagnostic and therapeutic potential. In this work the formation of co-called hemozoin “knobs” – the bile duct ectasia filled up by hemozoin pigment - in Opisthorhis felineus infected hamster liver has been observed. The O. felineus infected liver was examined by histological analysis and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The pigment hemozoin was identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis. Hemozoin crystals were characterised by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Hemozoin crystals produced by O. felineus have average length 403 nm and the length-to-width ratio equals 2.0. The regurgitation of hemozoin from parasitic fluke during infection leads to formation of bile duct ectasia. The active release of hemozoin from O. felineus during in vitro incubation has also been evidenced. It has been shown that the hemozoin knobs can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging. In the paper for the first time the characterisation of hemozoin pigment extracted from liver fluke O. felineus has been conducted. The role of hemozoin in the modification of immune response by opisthorchiasis is assumed.