NIR-II-Excited Intravital Two-Photon Microscopy Distinguishes Deep Cerebral and Tumor Vasculatures with an Ultrabright NIR-I AIE Luminogen

Abstract

Intravital fluorescence imaging of vasculature morphology and dynamics in the brain and in tumors with large penetration depth and high signal-to-background ratio (SBR) is highly desirable for the study and theranostics of vascular-related diseases and cancers. Herein, a highly bright fluorophore (BTPETQ) with long-wavelength absorption and aggregation-induced near-infrared (NIR) emission (maximum at ≈700 nm) is designed for intravital two-photon fluorescence (2PF) imaging of a mouse brain and tumor vasculatures under NIR-II light (1200 nm) excitation. BTPETQ dots fabricated via nanoprecipitation show uniform size of around 42 nm and a high quantum yield of 19 ± 1% in aqueous media. The 2PF imaging of the mouse brain vasculatures labeled by BTPETQ dots reveals a 3D blood vessel network with an ultradeep depth of 924 µm. In addition, BTPETQ dots show enhanced 2PF in tumor vasculatures due to their unique leaky structures, which facilitates the differentiation of normal blood vessels from tumor vessels with high SBR in deep tumor tissues. Moreover, the extravasation and accumulation of BTPETQ dots in deep tumor (more than 900 µm) is visualized under NIR-II excitation. This study highlights the importance of developing NIR-II light excitable efficient NIR fluorophores for in vivo deep tissue and high contrast tumor imaging.

Keywords: NIR fluorophores; NIR-II; aggregation-induced emission; tumor imaging; two-photon fluorescence imaging.