Protein-modified conjugated polymer nanoparticles with strong near-infrared absorption: a novel nanoplatform to design multifunctional nanoprobes for dual-modal photoacoustic and fluorescence imaging. Issue 42 (17th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gao, Duyang; Zhang, Pengfei; Liu, Yubin; Sheng, Zonghai; Chen, Huajie; Yuan, Zhen
• Is Part Of: Nanoscale. Volume 10:Issue 42(2018)
• Page Start: 19742
• Page End: 19748
• Publication Date: 2018-10-17
• Subjects: Nanoscience -- Periodicals; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; 620.505
• DOI: 10.1039/c8nr06197a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2040-3364

Abstract

Abstract : A general method to engineer photoacoustic/fluorescence dual-modal imaging nanoprobes has been proposed based on stable near-infrared conjugated polymer nanoparticles. Abstract : Engineering conjugated polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) with an easily-modified surface is essential to construct multifunctional nanoprobes as contrast agents for dual-modal photoacoustic (PA) and fluorescence imaging, which can take advantages of the complementary information from a single modality. In this study, an abundant protein with plenty of functional groups was introduced for the first time to produce easily-modified CPNs, leading to a robust nanoplatform to engineer PA-based multifunctional nanoprobes due to their strong optical absorption in the near-infrared region. Meanwhile, the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-modified CPNs were further engineered by introducing gold clusters in situ, which can serve as fluorescent nanoprobes for dual-modal molecular imaging. In particular, the developed nanoplatform exhibited superior stability and excellent biocompatibility, making it an ideal candidate for various cancer-theranostics applications. More importantly, our imaging results demonstrated that the BSA-modified CPNs were excellent candidates to design PA-based contrast agents for multimodal imaging using the function of the protein. In addition, other functional blocks can also be added to the nanoplatform based on its easily-modified surface, making it a general method for the construction of multifunctional nanoprobes for disease theranostics.