Zhang Haiyan, Wang Xinyu, Zhang Yundong, Ma Jinli, Qi Shaolong, Du Jianshi, Jin Chunxiang
Department of Ultrasound, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Key Laboratory and Engineering Laboratory of Lymphatic Surgery Jilin Province, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Front Chem. 2024 Jul 3;12:1435627. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2024.1435627. eCollection 2024.
The lymphatic system, alongside blood circulation, is crucial for maintaining bodily equilibrium and immune surveillance. Despite its importance, lymphatic imaging techniques lag behind those for blood circulation. Fluorescence imaging, particularly in the near-infrared-II (NIR-II) region, offers promising capabilities with centimeter-scale tissue penetration and micron-scale spatial resolution, sparking interest in visualizing the lymphatic system. Although indocyanine green (ICG) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a near-infrared-I (NIR-I) region fluorescent dye, its limitations include shallow penetration depth and low signal-to-noise ratio. Research suggests that ICG's fluorescence emission tail in the second near-infrared window holds potential for high-quality NIR-II imaging. However, challenges like short circulation half-life and concentration-dependent aggregation hinder its wider application. Here we developed HA@ICG nanoparticles (NPs), a superior ICG-based NIR-II fluorescent probe with excellent biocompatibility, prolonging imaging, and enhancing photostability compared to ICG alone. Leveraging LYVE-1, a prominent lymphatic endothelial cell receptor that binds specifically to hyaluronic acid (HA), our nanoprobes exhibit exceptional performance in targeting lymphatic system imaging. Moreover, our findings demonstrate the capability of HA@ICG NPs for capillary imaging, offering a means to assess local microcirculatory blood supply. These compelling results underscore the promising potential of HA@ICG NPs for achieving high-resolution bioimaging of nanomedicines in the NIR-II window.
淋巴系统与血液循环一起,对于维持身体平衡和免疫监视至关重要。尽管其很重要,但淋巴成像技术落后于血液循环成像技术。荧光成像,特别是在近红外-II(NIR-II)区域,具有厘米级组织穿透和微米级空间分辨率的有前景的能力,引发了对可视化淋巴系统的兴趣。虽然吲哚菁绿(ICG)已被美国食品药品监督管理局(FDA)批准用作近红外-I(NIR-I)区域荧光染料,但其局限性包括穿透深度浅和信噪比低。研究表明,ICG在第二近红外窗口的荧光发射尾具有高质量NIR-II成像的潜力。然而,诸如循环半衰期短和浓度依赖性聚集等挑战阻碍了其更广泛的应用。在这里,我们开发了HA@ICG纳米颗粒(NPs),这是一种基于ICG的卓越NIR-II荧光探针,与单独的ICG相比,具有优异的生物相容性、延长成像时间和增强光稳定性。利用LYVE-1,一种与透明质酸(HA)特异性结合的突出的淋巴管内皮细胞受体,我们的纳米探针在靶向淋巴系统成像中表现出卓越的性能。此外,我们的研究结果证明了HA@ICG NPs用于毛细血管成像的能力,提供了一种评估局部微循环血液供应的方法。这些令人信服的结果强调了HA@ICG NPs在NIR-II窗口实现纳米药物高分辨率生物成像的有前景的潜力。