title: Multifunctional Phosphorescent Conjugated Polymer Dots for Hypoxia Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer Cells.
abstract: Molecular oxygen (O2) plays a key role in many physiological processes, and becomes a toxicant to kill cells when excited to1O2. Intracellular O2levels, or the degree of hypoxia, are always viewed as an indicator of cancers. Due to the highly efficient cancer therapy ability and low side effect, photodynamic therapy (PDT) becomes one of the most promising treatments for cancers. Herein, an early-stage diagnosis and therapy system is reported based on the phosphorescent conjugated polymer dots (Pdots) containing Pt(II) porphyrin as an oxygen-responsive phosphorescent group and1O2photosensitizer. Intracellular hypoxia detection has been investigated. Results show that cells treated with Pdots display longer lifetimes under hypoxic conditions, and time-resolved luminescence images exhibit a higher signal-to-noise ratio after gating off the short-lived background fluorescence. Quantification of O2is realized by the ratiometric emission intensity of phosphorescence/fluorescence and the lifetime of phosphorescence. Additionally, the PDT efficiency of Pdots is estimated by flow cytometry, MTT cell viability assay, and in situ imaging of PDT induced cell death. Interestingly, Pdots exhibit a high PDT efficiency and would be promising in clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Kenneth Yin
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shujuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Tianshe
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM) Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPT) Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P.R. China; Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM) Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM)Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech) Nanjing 211816 Jiangsu P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
keywords: biosensors; conjugated polymer dots; hypoxia imaging; phosphorescence; photodynamic therapy