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Conjugated Polymer Amplified Far‐Red/Near‐Infrared Fluorescence from Nanoparticles with Aggregation‐Induced Emission Characteristics for Targeted In Vivo Imaging
Author(s) -
Ding Dan,
Li Kai,
Qin Wei,
Zhan Ruoyu,
Hu Yong,
Liu Jianzhao,
Tang Ben Zhong,
Liu Bin
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
advanced healthcare materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.288
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 2192-2659
pISSN - 2192-2640
DOI - 10.1002/adhm.201200243
Subject(s) - fluorescence , bovine serum albumin , in vivo , fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy , biophysics , chemistry , stokes shift , förster resonance energy transfer , conjugated system , surface modification , biocompatibility , nanoparticle , materials science , polymer , nanotechnology , biochemistry , organic chemistry , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , quantum mechanics , biology
Fluorescence‐amplified far‐red/near‐infrared (FR/NIR) nanoparticles (NPs) are synthesized by co‐encapsulation of conjugated polymer donor (poly[9,9‐bis(2‐(2‐(2‐methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl)fluorenyldivinylene]; PFV) and a fluorogen acceptor (2‐(2,6‐bis(( E )‐4‐(phenyl(4′‐(1,2,2‐triphenylvinyl)‐[1,1′‐biphenyl]‐4‐yl)amino)styryl)‐4 H ‐pyran‐4‐ylidene)malononitrile; TPE‐TPA‐DCM) with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics using biocompatible bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the encapsulation matrix. The good spectral overlap and close proximity between PFV and TPE‐TPA‐DCM in BSA NPs result in a 5.3‐fold amplified TPE‐TPA‐DCM emission signal via fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The obtained PFV/TPE‐TPA‐DCM co‐loaded BSA NPs are spherical in shape with a large Stokes shift of ∼223 nm and low cytotoxicity. The BSA matrix allows further functionalization with arginine‐glycine‐aspartic acid (RGD) peptide to yield fluorescent probes for specific recognition of integrin receptor‐overexpressed cancer cells. The advantage of PFV amplified FR/NIR signal from TPE‐TPA‐DCM is further demonstrated in cellular and in vivo imaging using HT‐29 colon cancer cells and a murine hepatoma H 22 tumor‐bearing mouse model, respectively. The high FR/NIR fluorescence and specific cancer targeting ability by RGD surface functionalization make the PFV/TPE‐TPA‐DCM co‐loaded BSA‐RGD NPs a unique FR/NIR fluorescent probe for cellular imaging and in vivo tumor diagnosis in a high contrast and selective manner.