The evaluation of NIR-absorbing porphyrin derivatives as contrast agents in photoacoustic imaging.
Six free base tetrapyrrolic chromophores, three quinoline-annulated porphyrins and three morpholinobacteriochlorins, that absorb light in the near-IR range and possess, in comparison to regular porphyrins, unusually low fluorescence emission and (1)O2 quantum yields were tested with respect to their efficacy as novel molecular photo-acoustic imaging contrast agents in a tissue phantom, providing an up to ∼2.5-fold contrast enhancement over that of the benchmark contrast agent ICG. The testing protocol compares the photoacoustic signal output strength upon absorption of approximately the same light energy. Some relationships between photophysical parameters of the dyes and the resulting photoacoustic signal strength could be derived.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA. zhu@engr.uconn.edu.
Akram
A
Abuteen
Saeid
S
Zanganeh
Joshua
J
Akhigbe
Lalith P
LP
Samankumara
Andres
A
Aguirre
Nrusingh
N
Biswal
Marcel
M
Braune
Anke
A
Vollertsen
Beate
B
Röder
Christian
C
Brückner
Quing
Q
Zhu
D000042:Absorption; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D007259:Infrared Rays; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D061088:Photoacoustic Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000737:chemistry*
D003287:Contrast Media; D011166:Porphyrins