Fibrinogen aptamer functionalized gold-coated iron-oxide nanoparticles for targeted imaging of thrombi

Targeting of molecular constituents of thrombi with aptamer functionalized core–shell nanoparticles (CSN) allowed for high resolution clot delineation in T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Meanwhile, the gold-coating demonstrated sufficient contrast capabilities in computed tomography (1697 HU μM−1). This targeted CSN formulation could allow for precise imaging of blood clots at low nanomolar concentrations.