title: A novel photoacoustic nanoprobe of ICG@PEG-Ag2S for atherosclerosis targeting and imaging in vivo.
abstract: Atherosclerosis is a major cause of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases that have high mortality and disability rates. Because of its unclear pathogenic mechanism and heterogeneous distribution feature, it is still a big challenge to achieve precise diagnosis and therapy of atherosclerosis at its early stage in vivo. Herein, we fabricated a new ICG@PEG-Ag2S nanoprobe by a simple self-assembly of DT-Ag2S QDs, amphipathic C18/PEG polymer molecules and ICG. The ICG@PEG-Ag2S nanoprobe showed relatively long blood retention and was selectively accumulated in the region of atherosclerotic plaque due to the lipophilicity of the C18 chain to the atherosclerosis microenvironment, and thus the atherosclerosis was real-time monitored by high contrast-enhanced photoacoustic (PA) imaging of ICG. Combining the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and high spatial resolution fluorescence imaging of Ag2S QDs in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II) and related histological assessment in vitro, the feasibility of this new nanoprobe for atherosclerosis targeting in an Apoe(-/-) mouse model was verified. Additionally, hemolysis and coagulation assays of the ICG@PEG-Ag2S revealed its decent hemocompatibility and no histological changes were observed in the main organs of the mouse. Such a simple, multifunctional nanoprobe for targeting and PA imaging of atherosclerosis will have a great potential for future clinical applications.
authors: Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Division of Nanobiomedicine and i-Lab, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China. qbwang2008@sinano.ac.cn cyli2012@sinano.ac.cn.
authors: Chenxin
authors: C
authors: Wu
authors: Yejun
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Zhen
authors: Z
authors: Li
authors: Chunyan
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Qiangbin
authors: Q
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D000074085:Mice, Knockout, ApoE; D008819:Mice, Nude; D015335:Molecular Probes; D049329:Nanostructures; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
chemical_list: D015335:Molecular Probes