{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T01:56:59Z","timestamp":1791338219460,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]],"date-time":"2025-12-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765324800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nanomaterials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Femtosecond laser-ablated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) offer a unique platform for developing novel cost-effective contrast agents due to their ultraclean, surfactant-free synthesis and precisely tunable surface properties. This study developed three computed tomography (CT) contrast agents from a single stock solution of laser-ablated AuNPs, functionalized with polyethylene glycol (PEG-2kDa, PEG-4kDa), or lipoic acid with bovine serum albumin (BSA). The primary objective was to evaluate the safety and functional efficacy of these coated AuNPs in healthy and tumor-bearing mice. After a single intravenous injection (690 \u00b1 30 mg Au\/kg), all formulations were well tolerated with no acute toxicity observed. PEGylated AuNPs demonstrated long blood half-life (18 \u00b1 2 h for PEG-2kDa; 37 \u00b1 2 h for PEG-4kDa), making them suitable for cardiovascular imaging up to 24 h post-injection. BSA-AuNPs had a rapid blood clearance (T1\/2 = 2.8 \u00b1 0.9 h), permitting cardiovascular assessment during the first 3 h, and provided intense, persistent contrast in abdominal organs, enabling liver imaging from 5 min and spleen imaging from 1 h post-injection. In a Ca755 mammary adenocarcinoma model, PEGylated AuNPs selectively accumulated in the tumor stroma and fibrous septa, allowing for precise tumor margin delineation and analysis of internal architecture. The findings establish that a single AuNP stock can be used to produce specialized contrast agents for specific imaging applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nano15241851","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]],"date-time":"2025-12-10T14:22:40Z","timestamp":1765376560000},"page":"1851","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Laser-Ablated Gold Nanoparticles as Tunable Contrast Agents for Preclinical Imaging"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5144-1039","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yulia","family":"Finogenova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"N.N. 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