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A PIID-DTBT based semi-conducting polymer dots with broad and strong optical absorption in the visible-light region: Highly effective contrast agents for multiscale and multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging

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Abstract

As a hybrid imaging technique, photoacoustic imaging (PAI) can provide multiscale morphological information of tissues, and the use of multi-spectral PAI (MSPAI) can recover the spatial distribution of chromophores of interest, such as hemoglobin within tissues. Herein, we developed a contrast agent that can very effectively combine multiscale PAI with MSPAI for a more comprehensive characterization of complex biological tissues. Specifically, we developed novel PIID-DTBT based semi-conducting polymer dots (Pdots) that show broad and strong optical absorption in the visible-light region (500–700 nm). The performances of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) and gold nanorods (GNRs), which have been verified as excellent photoacoustic contrast agents, were compared with that of the Pdots based on the multiscale PAI system. Both ex vivo and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the Pdots have better photoacoustic conversion efficiency at 532 nm than GNPs and showed similar photoacoustic performance with GNRs at 700 nm at the same mass concentration. Photostability and toxicity tests demonstrated that the Pdots are photostable and biocompatible. More importantly, an in vivo MSPAI experiment indicated that the Pdots have better photoacoustic performance than the blood and therefore the signals can be accurately extracted from the background of vascular-rich tissues. Our work demonstrates the great potential of Pdots as highly effective contrast agents for the precise localization of lesions relative to the blood vessels based on multiscale PAI and MSPAI.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the University of Macau in Macau (Nos. MYRG2014-00093-FHS, MYRG 2015-00036-FHS, and MYRG2016-00110-FHS), Macao government (Nos. FDCT 026/2014/A1 and FDCT 025/2015/A1), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11434017).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioimaging Core, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR, 999078, China

    Jian Zhang, Duyang Gao, Xuanjun Zhang, Yubin Liu & Zhen Yuan

  2. State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Jilin, 130012, China

    Haobin Chen & Changfeng Wu

  3. College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Ting Zhou

  4. College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Limei Wang

  5. Center for Drug Non-clinical Evaluation and Research, Guangdong Biological Resources Institute, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510900, China

    Limei Wang

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  1. Jian Zhang
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  3. Ting Zhou
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Correspondence to Changfeng Wu or Zhen Yuan.

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12274_2016_1266_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

A PIID-DTBT based semi-conducting polymer dots with broad and strong optical absorption in the visible-light region: Highly effective contrast agents for multiscale and multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging

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Zhang, J., Chen, H., Zhou, T. et al. A PIID-DTBT based semi-conducting polymer dots with broad and strong optical absorption in the visible-light region: Highly effective contrast agents for multiscale and multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging. Nano Res. 10, 64–76 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1266-8

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