Assessment of the Enhancement Potential of Halloysite Nanotubes for Echographic Imaging

Halloysite Nanotubes (HNTs) are nanomaterials composed of double layered aluminosilicate minerals with a predominantly hollow tubular structure in submicron range. HNTs are characterized by a wide range of applications in anticancer therapy, sustained agent delivery, being particularly interesting because of their tunable release rates and fast adsorption rates. However systematic investigations of their acoustic properties are still poorly documented. This paper shows a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of HNTs as scatterers at conventional ultrasonic frequencies (5.7-7 MHz) in low range of concentrations (1.5-5 mg/mL). Different samples of HNT (diameter: 40-50 nm; length: 0.5 to 2 microns, empty lumen diameter: 15-20 nm) containing agarose gel were imaged through a commercially available echographic system and acquired data were processed through a dedicated prototypal platform in order to extract the average ultrasonic signal amplitude associated to the considered sample. Relationships have been established among backscatter, HNT concentration and the employed echographic frequency. Our results demonstrated that improvement in image backscatter could be achieved incrementing HNT concentration, determining a non-linear signal enhancement due to the fact that they are poly-disperse in length. On the other hand the effect of different echographic frequencies used was almost constant at all concentrations, specifically using higher values of echographic frequency allows yielding a signal enhanced of a factor 1.75 +/- 0.26.