Intraparticle Energy Level Alignment of Semiconducting Polymer Nanoparticles to Amplify Chemiluminescence for Ultrasensitive In Vivo Imaging of Reactive Oxygen Species.
Detection of reactive oxygen species (ROS), a hallmark of many pathological processes, is imperative to understanding, detection and treatment of many life-threatening diseases. However, methods capable of real-time in situ imaging of ROS in living animals are still very limited. We herein report the development and optimization of chemiluminescent semiconducting polymer nanoparticles (SPNs) for ultrasensitive in vivo imaging of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The chemiluminescence is amplified by adjusting the energy levels between the luminescence reporter and the chemiluminescence substrate to facilitate intermolecular electron transfer in the process of H2O2-activated luminescence. The optimized SPN can emit chemiluminescence with the quantum yield up to 2.30 × 10(-2) einsteins/mol and detect H2O2 down to 5 nM, which substantially outperforms the previous probes. Further doping of this SPN with a naphthalocyanine dye creates intraparticle chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET), leading to the near-infrared (NIR) luminescence responding to H2O2. By virtue of high brightness and ideal NIR optical window, SPN-NIR permits ultrasensitive imaging of H2O2 in the mouse models of peritonitis and neuroinflammation with the minute administration quantity. Thus, this study not only provides a category of optical probes that eliminates the need of external light excitation for imaging of H2O2, but also reveals the underlying principle to enhance the brightness of chemiluminescence systems.
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637457, Singapore.
Xu
X
Zhen
National Neuroscience Institute , Singapore 308433, Singapore.
Chengwu
C
Zhang
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637457, Singapore.
Chen
C
Xie
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637457, Singapore.
Qingqing
Q
Miao
National Neuroscience Institute , Singapore 308433, Singapore.
Kah Leong
KL
Lim
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 637457, Singapore.
Kanyi
K
Pu
D000818:Animals; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D049449:Luminescence; D051379:Mice; D053758:Nanoparticles; D011108:Polymers; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species
D011108:Polymers; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide
chemiluminescence; molecular imaging; organic nanoparticles; reactive oxygen species