Fluorescence imaging and whole-body biodistribution of near-infrared-emitting quantum dots after subcutaneous injection for regional lymph node mapping in mice.
OBJECTIVE
This study compares fluorescence imaging to mass spectroscopy (inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy, ICP-MS) for detection of quantum dots (QDs) in sentinel lymph node (LN) mapping of breast cancer.


METHODS
We study the accumulation of near-infrared-emitting QDs into regional LNs and their whole-body biodistribution in mice after subcutaneous injection, using in vivo fluorescence imaging and ex vivo elemental analysis by ICP-MS.


RESULTS
We show that the QD accumulation in regional LNs is detectable by fluorescence imaging as early as 5 min post-delivery. Their concentration reaches a maximum at 4 h then decreases over a 10-day observation period. These data are confirmed by ICP-MS. The QD uptake in other organs, assessed by ICP-MS, increases steadily over time; however, its overall level remains rather low.


CONCLUSIONS
Fluorescence imaging can be used as a non-invasive alternative to ICP-MS to follow the QD accumulation kinetics into regional LNs.
Pic
Emilie
E
Centre de Recherche en Automatique de Nancy-Nancy-University-CNRS-Centre Alexis Vautrin, avenue de Bourgogne, 54511 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy Cedex, France.
Pons
Thomas
T
Bezdetnaya
Lina
L
Leroux
Agnès
A
Guillemin
François
F
Dubertret
Benoît
B
Marchal
Frédéric
F
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005453:Fluorescence; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D016014:Linear Models; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009929:Organ Size; D045663:Quantum Dots; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D014018:Tissue Distribution