NIR to NIR upconversion in KYb2F7: RE³⁺ (RE = Tm, Er) nanoparticles for biological imaging

Until recently, many contrast agents widely used in biological imaging have absorbed and emitted in the visible region, limiting their usefulness for deeper tissue imaging. In order to push the boundaries of deep tissue imaging with non-ionizing radiation, contrast agents in the near infrared (NIR) regime, which is not strongly absorbed or scattered by most tissues, are being sought after. Upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) are attractive candidates since their upconversion emission is tunable with a very narrow bandwidth and they do not photobleach or blink. The upconversion produced by the nanoparticles can be tailored for NIR to NIR by carefully choosing the lanthanide dopants and dopant ratios such as KYb₂F₇: RE³⁺ (RE = Tm, Er). Spectroscopic characterization was done by analyzing absorption, fluorescence, and quantum yield data. In order to study the toxicity of the nanoparticles Monkey Retinal Endothelial Cells (MREC) were cultivated in 24 well plates and then treated with nanoparticles at different concentrations in triplicate to obtain the optimal concentration for in vivo experiments. It will be shown that these UCNPs do not elicit a strong toxic response such as quantum dots and some noble metal nanoparticles. 3-D optical slices of nanoparticle treated fibroblast cells were imaged using a confocal microscope where the nucleus and cytoplasm were stained with DAPI and Alexa Fluor respectively. These results presented support the initial assumption, which suggests that KYb₂F₇: RE³⁺ would be excellent candidates for NIR contrast agents.