An Activatable Polymeric Reporter for Near-Infrared Fluorescent and Photoacoustic Imaging of Invasive Cancer

Discriminative detection of invasive and noninvasive breast cancers is crucial for their effective treatment and prognosis. However, activatable probes able to do so in vivo are rare. Herein, we report an activatable polymeric reporter (P-Dex) that specifically turns on near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent and photoacoustic (PA) signals in response to the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) overexpressed in invasive breast cancer. P-Dex has a renal-clearable dextran backbone that is linked with a NIR dye caged with an uPA-cleavable peptide substrate. Such a molecular design allows P-Dex to passively target tumors, activate NIR fluorescence and PA signals to effectively distinguish invasive MDA-MB-231 breast cancer from noninvasive MCF-7 breast cancer, and ultimately undergo renal clearance to minimize the toxicity potential. Thus, this polymeric reporter holds great promise for the early detection of malignant breast cancer.     

Near‐Infrared Multipurpose Lanthanide‐Imaging Nanoprobes

Optical imaging plays a growing role in modern biomedical research and clinical applications due to its high sensitivity, superb spatiotemporal resolution and minimal hazards. Lanthanide‐doped nanoparticles (LDNPs), as a classical category of luminescent materials, exhibit promising photostability, near‐infrared (NIR)‐excited frequency up‐/down‐converting capabilities, emission fine‐tuning and multispectral features, which have greatly promoted the endeavors of deeper and clearer diagnostics in complex living conditions. This review focuses on the recent advances of LDNP‐based multipurpose imaging studies using upconversion, downshifting, lifetime, photoacoustic and multimodal nanoprobes in the NIR (650–1000 nm) and the second near‐infrared window (NIR‐II, 1000–1700 nm). The principle and design of various functional, activatable, multiplexing or multimodal lanthanide‐imaging nanoprobes (LINPs) as well as representative biophotonic applications are summarized in detail. In addition, the future perspectives and challenges for facilitating LINPs to clinical translations are discussed.     

近红外荧光探针检测金属离子、小分子和生物大分子

荧光探针技术是近年来发展迅速的一种荧光分析方法,具有灵敏度高、选择性好、操作简便和响应迅速等特点,受到环境及生命科学领域的青睐.随着荧光探针技术的发展,近红外一区荧光探针由于具有发射波长长(600～ 900 nm)、对细胞损伤小、组织穿透性强和自发荧光背景低等优点,被广泛应用于细胞、组织等复杂生物体系中生物分子的检测、...     

Conjugation of Palbociclib with MHI-148 Has an Increased Cytotoxic Effect for Breast Cancer Cells and an Altered Mechanism of Action

The CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib, combined with endocrine therapy, has been shown to be effective in postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer. However, palbociclib is not as effective in the highly aggressive, triple-negative breast cancer that lacks sensitivity to chemotherapy or endocrine therapy. We hypothesized that conjugation of the near-infrared dye MHI-148 with palbociclib can produce a potential theranostic in triple-negative, as well as estrogen receptor-positive, breast cancer cells. In our study, the conjugate was found to have enhanced activity in all mammalian cell lines tested in vitro. However, the conjugate was cytotoxic and did not induce G1 cell cycle arrest in breast cancer cells, suggesting its mechanism of action differs from the parent compound palbociclib. The study highlights the importance of investigating the mechanism of conjugates of near-infrared dyes to therapeutic compounds, as conjugation can potentially result in a change of mechanism or target, with an enhanced cytotoxic effect in this case.     

Noninvasive Temperature Measurement in Dental Materials Using Nd3+, Yb3+ Doped Nanoparticles Emitting in the Near Infrared Region

In this work, the application of near infrared (NIR)-emitting NaYbF₄:1%Tm³⁺@NaLuF₄:30%Nd³⁺ core–shell nanoparticles is reported for noninvasive probing and monitoring the temperature during photopolymerization of dental materials. When excited at 808 nm, the synthesized nanoparticles emit NIR photoluminescence (PL) with two distinctive peaks at 865 and 980 nm which correspond to radiative transitions from the doped Nd³⁺ and Yb³⁺ ions, respectively. Luminescence intensity ratio between these two bands is found to vary with temperature due to temperature-dependent electronic excitation energy transfer between Nd³⁺ and Yb³⁺ ions at the core/shell interface. This finding allows luminescence ratiometric evaluation of the in situ temperature during photopolymerization of resin cement (doped with nanoparticles) in a veneer placement procedure. In addition, the NIR emission also enables PL imaging of the distribution of the adhesive under the veneer. The results highlight that rare-earth ions–doped nanoparticles with both excitation and emission in the NIR spectral range are advantageous for both PL-based nanothermometry and imaging due to the reduced attenuation of NIR light by dental ceramics.     

Chemometrics: An Excavator in Temperature-Dependent Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Temperature-dependent near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been developed and taken as a powerful technique for analyzing the structure of water and the interactions in aqueous systems. Due to the overlapping of the peaks in NIR spectra, it is difficult to obtain the spectral features showing the structures and interactions. Chemometrics, therefore, is adopted to improve the spectral resolution and extract spectral information from the temperature-dependent NIR spectra for structural and quantitative analysis. In this review, works on chemometric studies for analyzing temperature-dependent NIR spectra were summarized. The temperature-induced spectral features of water structures can be extracted from the spectra with the help of chemometrics. Using the spectral variation of water with the temperature, the structural changes of small molecules, proteins, thermo-responsive polymers, and their interactions with water in aqueous solutions can be demonstrated. Furthermore, quantitative models between the spectra and the temperature or concentration can be established using the spectral variations of water and applied to determine the compositions in aqueous mixtures.     

Identification of Stingless Bee Honey Adulteration Using Visible-Near Infrared Spectroscopy Combined with Aquaphotomics

Honey is a natural product that is considered globally one of the most widely important foods. Various studies on authenticity detection of honey have been fulfilled using visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy techniques. However, there are limited studies on stingless bee honey (SBH) despite the increase of market demand for this food product. The objective of this work was to present the potential of Vis-NIR absorbance spectroscopy for profiling, classifying, and quantifying the adulterated SBH. The SBH sample was mixed with various percentages (10–90%) of adulterants, including distilled water, apple cider vinegar, and high fructose syrup. The results showed that the region at 400–1100 nm that is related to the color and water properties of the samples was effective to discriminate and quantify the adulterated SBH. By applying the principal component analysis (PCA) on adulterants and honey samples, the PCA score plot revealed the classification of the adulterants and adulterated SBHs. A partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was developed to quantify the contamination level in the SBH samples. The general PLSR model with the highest coefficient of determination and lowest root means square error of cross-validation (RCV2=0.96 and RMSECV=5.88 %) was acquired. The aquaphotomics analysis of adulteration in SBH with the three adulterants utilizing the short-wavelength NIR region (800–1100 nm) was presented. The structural changes of SBH due to adulteration were described in terms of the changes in the water molecular matrix, and the aquagrams were used to visualize the results. It was revealed that the integration of NIR spectroscopy with aquaphotomics could be used to detect the water molecular structures in the adulterated SBH.     

近红外脑血氧监测设备在临床中的应用

脑是人体最重要的器官之一,人的思维、言行、呼吸、生命活动与其密切相关,其完善的功能建立在充足的血、氧供应基础上。实时、无创、准确地测量脑组织血氧参数是临床的迫切需要,对提高心脑血管等疾病的诊断和治疗具有重要意义。     

Application of Short-wave Near-infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy in Controlling Extract of Fructus Cnidii Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Fructus cnidii （Chinese name shechuangzi） is the fruit produced by Cnidium monnieri （L.） Cusson （Umbelliferae）. It is a perennial herb that is used to treat skin-related diseases and gynecopathyell. Recent pharmacological studies have revealed crude extracts or components isolated from fructus cnidii possess antiallergic, antipruritic, antidermatophytic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiosteoporotic activities. Osthole and imperatorin are the major compounds present in shechuangzi. They are often used as standards for the evaluation of the quality of shechuangzi products.     

采用多光程长建模方法检测血液成分含量

为了提高近红外光谱血液成分含量分析模型的预测精度,利用多个光程长(optical path length,OPL)共同参与建模的方法进行血糖等6种血液成分的定量分析。通过微米位移机构实现不同光程长血液光谱的测量,由全自动生化分析仪给出生化成分分析结果,并出具化验单。采用偏最小二乘法(PLS2)进行血液的近红外光谱建模及预测。由于血液光谱存在显著的非线性特征,不同光程长的血液样本的等效吸收系数不同,同一波长不同光程长(0.20~1.25 mm)测得的血液光谱互不相关。主动把非线性特性作为一种测量手段引入,不再利用单个的最佳光程长建模,而是用各个血液组分对应的多个最佳光程长的近红外光谱同时参与建立校正模型,进行血液成分的分析预测。研究结果表明,多光程长建模方法用于血液成分含量分析,可提高血液成分校正模型的预测精度。