title: Degradable Semiconducting Oligomer Amphiphile for Ratiometric Photoacoustic Imaging of Hypochlorite.
abstract: Upregulation of highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hypochlorite (ClO-) is associated with many pathological conditions including cardiovascular diseases, neuron degeneration, lung injury, and cancer. However, real-time imaging of ClO-is limited to the probes generally relying on fluorescence with shallow tissue-penetration depth. We here propose a self-assembly approach to develop activatable and degradable photoacoustic (PA) nanoprobes for in vivo imaging of ClO-. A near-infrared absorbing amphiphilic oligomer is synthesized to undergo degradation in the presence of a specific ROS (ClO-), which integrates a π-conjugated but ClO-oxidizable backbone with hydrophilic PEG side chains. This molecular architecture allows the oligomer to serve as a degradable nanocarrier to encapsulate the ROS-inert dye and self-assemble into structurally stable nanoparticles through both π-π stacking and hydrophobic interactions. The self-assembled nanoprobe exhibits sensitive and specific ratiometric PA signals toward ClO-, permitting ratiometric PA imaging of ClO-in the tumor of living mice.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China.|School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 70 Nanyang Drive, 637457 Singapore.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 70 Nanyang Drive, 637457 Singapore.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Quli
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9387-0165
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China.|Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech) , 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7004-6408
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , 70 Nanyang Drive, 637457 Singapore.
authors.forename: Kanyi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8064-6009
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pu
keywords: activatable probes; near-infrared dyes; photoacoustic imaging; polymer nanoparticles; reactive oxygen species; self-assembly; sensors