X-ray-activated persistent luminescence nanomaterials for NIR-II imaging.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Persistent luminescence offers high-contrast bioimaging by avoiding background autofluorescence.
• Current persistent luminescent materials for in vivo imaging have limitations, including non-uniformity, lack of core-shell structures, and short emission wavelengths.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop X-ray-activated, lanthanide-doped nanoparticles with tunable emission in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II).
• To enhance in vivo bioimaging capabilities, including signal-to-noise ratio, multiplexed encoding, and deep tissue visualization.

Main Methods:

• Synthesized a series of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles with core-shell structures.
• Investigated X-ray activation and emission properties in the NIR-II window (1,000-1,700 nm).
• Evaluated performance in vivo for imaging abdominal vessels, tumors, ureters, and viscera, and for multimodal imaging.

Main Results:

• Achieved tunable NIR-II persistent luminescence with extended emission lifetimes.
• Demonstrated superior signal-to-noise ratios and sharpness compared to NIR-II fluorescence in deep tissue imaging.
• Successfully performed high-contrast multiplexed imaging of viscera and multimodal imaging (MRI/PET) of murine tumors.

Conclusions:

• Rationally designed core-shell nanoparticles enable high-performance NIR-II persistent luminescence bioimaging.
• These nanoparticles significantly improve deep tissue imaging contrast and accuracy.
• The developed materials hold promise for advanced diagnostic and therapeutic applications.