Synthesis of indium-containing nanoparticles in aqueous suspension using plasmas in water for evaluating their kinetics in living body

Nanoparticles have great potential for medical applications such as cancer therapy, whereas their toxic effects on human body are pointed out. To study kinetics and toxicity of nanoparticles in living body, we synthesized indium-containing nanoparticles in aqueous suspension using pulsed electrical discharge plasmas in water, because no indium compounds exist in the living body in the normal situation and hence indium-containing nanoparticles are useful tracer materials for analyzing kinetics of nanoparticles in living body. The mean size of synthesized primary nanoparticles is 7 nm, whereas the mean size of secondary nanoparticles is 315 nm. EDX and XRD analysis reveal that nanoparticles are indium crystalline and indium hydroxide crystalline with the mass ratio of 8:2. Preliminary subcutaneous administration of nanoparticles to mice shows that indium is transported from subcutaneous to blood. These results show that synthesized indium-containing nanoparticles are useful for analyzing kinetics of nanoparticles in living body.