Energy Interception-Enhanced Ultrasound-Induced Luminescence Enables Efficient Anticancer Monitoring

Ultrasound-induced luminescence (UIL) imaging uses the ultrasound mechanical force to trigger luminescence from different materials within tissue, offering improved signal-to-noise ratio and imaging depth compared with traditional fluorescence imaging. However, some obstacles hinder this technique, including the limited available molecules, ambiguous mechanism and low luminescence intensity. Herein, we expand the types of UIL molecules to include several phthalocyanines and semiconductor polymers. We demonstrate that these molecules enable convert ultrasound fluctuations into reactive oxygen species (ROS) through piezocatalysis. Subsequently, ROS oxidize unsaturated bonds in molecules for transducing chemical energy into photons, during which energy conversion and utilization efficiency dictating resultant luminescence intensity. Capitalizing on this mechanism, we further design energy interception strategy by employing substrates with heightened reactivity toward ROS, enabling efficient capture of the chemical energy stored in ROS and a 78.7-fold increase in UIL intensity. ROS generated under ultrasonic excitation not only induce luminescence but also damage tumor cells through synergistic oxidation and inflammatory cascade activation, implicating a correlation between luminescence intensity and cell death. Consequently, our enhanced UIL system provides an accurate, real-time reporter for ROS generation under ultrasonic excitation and establishes a reliable platform for monitoring and evaluating tumor therapeutic efficacy.