title: Fluorescent Tobacco mosaic virus-Derived Bio-Nanoparticles for Intravital Two-Photon Imaging.
abstract: Multi-photon intravital imaging has become a powerful tool to investigate the healthy and diseased brain vasculature in living animals. Although agents for multi-photon fluorescence microscopy of the microvasculature are available, issues related to stability, bioavailability, toxicity, cost or chemical adaptability remain to be solved. In particular, there is a need for highly fluorescent dyes linked to particles that do not cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) in brain diseases like tumor or stroke to estimate the functional blood supply. Plant virus particles possess a number of distinct advantages over other particles, the most important being the multi-valency of chemically addressable sites on the particle surface. This multi-valency, together with biological compatibility and inert nature, makes plant viruses ideal carriers for in vivo imaging agents. Here, we show that the well-known Tobacco mosaic virus is a suitable nanocarrier for two-photon dyes and for intravital imaging of the mouse brain vasculature.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP-UPR2357), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niehl
authors.affiliation: Two-Photon Microscopy Platform, Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U836, Université Grenoble Alpes Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Appaix
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP-UPR2357), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boscá
authors.affiliation: Clinatec, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale UA 01 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Boudewijn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: van der Sanden
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Conception et Application de Molécules Bioactives, UMR 7199 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de Strasbourg Illkirch, France.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Nicoud
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Conception et Application de Molécules Bioactives, UMR 7199 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de Strasbourg Illkirch, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bolze
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP-UPR2357), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinlein
keywords: Tobacco mosaic virus; intravital imaging; two-photon microscopy; viral nanoparticles