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Ultrasmall Semiconducting Polymer Dots with Rapid Clearance for Second Near‐Infrared Photoacoustic Imaging and Photothermal Cancer Therapy
Author(s) -
Men Xiaoju,
Wang Fei,
Chen Haobin,
Liu Yubin,
Men Xiaoxiao,
Yuan Ye,
Zhang Zhe,
Gao Duyang,
Wu Changfeng,
Yuan Zhen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201909673
Subject(s) - photothermal therapy , materials science , photoacoustic imaging in biomedicine , biocompatibility , polymer , in vivo , nanotechnology , irradiation , penetration depth , ablation , biomedical engineering , optoelectronics , optics , medicine , composite material , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , nuclear physics , metallurgy , biology
Phototheranostic agents in the second near‐infrared (NIR‐II) window (1000–1700 nm) are emerging as a promising theranostic platform for precision medicine due to enhanced penetration depth and minimized tissue exposure. The development of metabolizable NIR‐II nanoagents for imaging‐guided therapy are essential for noninvasive disease diagnosis and precise ablation of tumors. Herein, metabolizable highly absorbing NIR‐II conjugated polymer dots (Pdots) are reported for the first time for photoacoustic imaging guided photothermal therapy (PTT). The unique design of low‐bandgap D‐A π‐conjugated polymer (DPP‐BTzTD) together with modified nanoreprecipitation conditions allows to fabricate NIR‐II absorbing Pdots with ultrasmall (4 nm) particle size. Extensive experimental tests demonstrate that the constructed Pdots exhibit good biocompatibility, excellent photostability, bright photoacoustic signals, and high photothermal conversion efficiency (53%). In addition, upon tail‐vein intravenous injection of tumor‐bearing mice, Pdots also show high‐efficient tumor ablation capability with rapid excretion from the body. In particular, both in vitro and in vivo assays indicate that the Pdots possess remarkable PTT performance under irradiation with a 1064 nm laser with 0.5 W cm −2 , which is much lower than its maximum permissible exposure limit of 1 W cm −2 . This pilot study thus paves a novel avenue for the development of organic semiconducting nanoagents for future clinical translation.