Carbon dots for optical imaging in vivo.

It was found and recently reported that small carbon nanoparticles can be surface-passivated by organic or biomolecules to become strongly fluorescent. These fluorescent carbon nanoparticles, dubbed "carbon dots", can be successfully used for in vitro cell imaging with both one- and two-photon excitations, as already demonstrated in the literature. Here we report the first study using carbon dots for optical imaging in live mice. The results suggest that the carbon dots remain strongly fluorescent in vivo, which, coupled with their biocompatibility and nontoxic characteristics, might offer great potential for imaging and related biomedical applications.