Rare-earth-doped biological composites as in vivo shortwave infrared reporters

Abstract

The extension of in vivo optical imaging for disease screening and image-guided surgical interventions requires brightly-emitting, tissue-specific materials that optically transmit through living tissue and can be imaged with portable systems that display data in real-time. Recent work suggests that a new window across the short wavelength infrared region can improve in vivo imaging sensitivity over near infrared light. Here we report on the first evidence of multispectral, real-time short wavelength infrared imaging offering anatomical resolution using brightly-emitting rare-earth nanomaterials and demonstrate their applicability toward disease-targeted imaging. Inorganic-protein nanocomposites of rare-earth nanomaterials with human serum albumin facilitated systemic biodistribution of the rare-earth nanomaterials resulting in the increased accumulation and retention in tumor tissue that was visualized by the localized enhancement of infrared signal intensity. Our findings lay the groundwork for a new generation of versatile, biomedical nanomaterials that can advance disease monitoring based on a pioneering infrared imaging technique.

Neodymium‐Based Stoichiometric Ultrasmall Nanoparticles for Multifunctional Deep‐Tissue Photothermal Therapy

“…Furthermore, RENP fluorescence would also provide the possibility of tracking them in real time after thermal treatment, thus allowing to determine their biodistribution and clearance from the body. [11] In this context, neodymium (Nd 3+ ) arises as a most interesting doping ion for this type of NPs.…”

Multi-photon quantum cutting in Gd2O2S:Tm3+ to enhance the photo-response of solar cells

“…Efforts should be aimed at reducing losses due to concentration quenching of the 3 F 4 level and increasing the absorption by means of a sensitizer. In addition to applications in next-generation photovoltaics, because the excitation can be in the first 'tissue-transparent spectral window' of approximately 800 nm and the emission of 1800 nm lies in a spectral window with low tissue absorption and reduced light scattering 34,35 , the concept of efficient downconversion in Tm 31 may be useful for bio-imaging applications.…”

Layer-by-layer assembled fluorescent probes in the second near-infrared window for systemic delivery and detection of ovarian cancer

“…Current NIR-II emissive materials, including rare-earthbased down-conversion nanoparticles (DCNPs), quantum dots (QDs), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), and small organic molecules, have been incorporated into diagnostic probes using a single lipid, polymer, protein, or bacteriophage (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). However, these delivery carriers lack the modularity and versatility to include drugs effectively for theranostic platforms and do not as readily enable the incorporation of complex or multiple drug payloads.…”

“…Particularly, SWNTs suffer from poor circulation in either lipid-coated or bacteriophage-bound form (11,21), the pharmacokinetics of NIR-II emissive QDs and organic dyes are rarely reported (8,10), and real-time whole-body imaging and pharmacokinetics for DCNPs are not reported (9). Furthermore, each material was studied with different delivery systems and instrumentation, contributing to the observed variations in performance across reports.…”