Photostable fluorescent organic dots with aggregation-induced emission (AIE dots) for noninvasive long-term cell tracing

Li, Kai; Qin, Wei; Ding, Dan; Tomczak, Nikodem; Geng, Junlong; Liu, Rongrong; Liu, Jianzhao; Zhang, Xinhai; Liu, Hongwei; Liu, Bin; Tang, Ben Zhong

doi:10.1038/srep01150

Cited by 338 publications

(291 citation statements)

References 49 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

286

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…26,[29][30] A conjugated polymer, PFTTQ, was employed as the PA agent. The mixture of DSPE-PEG 2000 and its folic acid end-capped derivative (DSPE-PEG 2000 -folate) was used to encapsulate PFTTQ to afford folate-CP dots.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular photoacoustic imaging of breast cancer using an actively targeted conjugated polymer

Balasundaram¹,

Ho²,

Li³

et al. 2015

IJN

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conjugated polymers (CPs) are upcoming optical contrast agents in view of their unique optical properties and versatile synthetic chemistry. Biofunctionalization of these polymer-based nanoparticles enables molecular imaging of biological processes. In this work, we propose the concept of using a biofunctionalized CP for noninvasive photoacoustic (PA) molecular imaging of breast cancer. In particular, after verifying the PA activity of a CP nanoparticle (CP dots) in phantoms and the targeting efficacy of a folate-functionalized version of the same (folate-CP dots) in vitro, we systemically administered the probe into a folate receptor-positive (FR+ve) MCF-7 breast cancer xenograft model to demonstrate the possible application of folate-CP dots for imaging FR+ve breast cancers in comparison to CP dots with no folate moieties. We observed a strong PA signal at the tumor site of folate-CP dots-administered mice as early as 1 hour after administration as a result of the active targeting of the folate-CP dots to the FR+ve tumor cells but a weak PA signal at the tumor site of CP-dots-administered mice as a result of the passive accumulation of the probe by enhanced permeability and retention effect. We also observed that folate-CP dots produced ~4-fold enhancement in the PA signal in the tumor, when compared to CP dots. These observations demonstrate the great potential of this active-targeting CP to be used as a contrast agent for molecular PA diagnostic imaging in various biomedical applications.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular photoacoustic imaging of breast cancer using an actively targeted conjugated polymer

Balasundaram¹,

Ho²,

Li³

et al. 2015

IJN

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Materials : 1,4-bis(Bromomethyl)-2,5-dimethoxybenzene ( 2 ), [ 87 ] 2,5-bimethoxybenzene-1,4-dicarboxaldehyde ( 3 ), [ 88 ] and N -(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl)benzenamine ( 10 ) [ 77 ] were prepared according to the literature. DSPE-PEG-NH 2 , DSPE-PEG-FA, and DSPE-PEG were purchased from Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc. All the other chemicals and reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and used as received without further purifi cation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cellular and Mitochondrial Dual‐Targeted Organic Dots with Aggregation‐Induced Emission Characteristics for Image‐Guided Photodynamic Therapy

Feng

Qin

et al. 2015

Adv Healthcare Materials

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Targeted delivery of drugs toward mitochondria of specific cancer cells dramatically improves therapy efficiencies especially for photodynamic therapy (PDT), as reactive oxygen species (ROS) are short in lifetime and small in radius of action. Different from chemical modification, nanotechnology has been serving as a simple and nonchemical approach to deliver drugs to cells of interest or specific organelles, such as mitochondria, but there have been limited examples of dual-targeted delivery for both cells and mitochondria. Here, cellular and mitochondrial dual-targeted organic dots for image-guided PDT are reported based on a fluorogen with aggregation-induced emission (AIEgen) characteristics. The AIEgen possesses enhanced red fluorescence and efficient ROS production in aggregated states. The AIE dot surfaces are functionalized with folate and triphenylphosphine, which can selectively internalize into folate-receptor (FR) positive cancer cells, and subsequently accumulate at mitochondria. The direct ROS generation at mitochondria sites is found to depolarize mitochondrial membrane, affect cell migration, and lead to cell apoptosis and death with enhanced PDT effects as compared to ROS generated randomly in cytoplasm. This report demonstrates a simple and general nanocarrier approach for cellular and mitochondrial dual-targeted PDT, which opens new opportunities for dual-targeted delivery and therapy.

show abstract

“…In addition, due to the AIE feature, TPE-TPP nanoaggregates emitted brighter fluorescence than its single molecule state under two-photon excitation. Photobleaching resistance is one of the most important advantages of AIE luminogens [19][20][21], and previously we have proved this feature of TPE-TPP nanoaggregates under one-photon excitation [23]. Herein, we studied the photostability of TPE-TPP under two-photon excitation, by utilizing a 740 nm-fs laser.…”

Section: Two-photon Fluorescence Of Tpe-tppmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on this mechanism, hydrophobic AIE molecules can be encapsulated with various types of nanoparticles [17,18], or form nanoaggregates in an aqueous solution spontaneously. All the nanoprobes are very resistant to photobleaching even under high-power laser irradiation [19][20][21], which is very helpful to long-term dynamic biological imaging and observation [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term two-photon neuroimaging with a photostable AIE luminogen

Qian¹,

Zhu²,

Leung³

et al. 2015

Biomed. Opt. Express

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In neuroscience, fluorescence labeled two-photon microscopy is a promising tool to visualize ex vivo and in vivo tissue morphology, and track dynamic neural activities. Specific and highly photostable fluorescent probes are required in this technology. However, most fluorescent proteins and organic fluorophores suffer from photobleaching, so they are not suitable for long-term imaging and observation. To overcome this problem, we utilize tetraphenylethene-triphenylphosphonium (TPE-TPP), which possesses aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and two-photon fluorescence characteristics, for neuroimaging. The unique AIE feature of TPE-TPP makes its nanoaggregates resistant to photobleaching, which is useful to track neural cells and brain-microglia for a long period of time. Two-photon fluorescence of TPE-TPP facilitates its application in deep in vivo neuroimaging, as demonstrated in the present paper.

show abstract

Photostable fluorescent organic dots with aggregation-induced emission (AIE dots) for noninvasive long-term cell tracing

Cited by 338 publications

References 49 publications

Molecular photoacoustic imaging of breast cancer using an actively targeted conjugated polymer

Molecular photoacoustic imaging of breast cancer using an actively targeted conjugated polymer

Cellular and Mitochondrial Dual‐Targeted Organic Dots with Aggregation‐Induced Emission Characteristics for Image‐Guided Photodynamic Therapy

Long-term two-photon neuroimaging with a photostable AIE luminogen

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About