Volume 137, Issue 30 e202507787
Forschungsartikel

Intermediate Layer-Engineered Lanthanide Nanoparticles Enable Deep Bioorthogonal Liver Tumor and Vascular Imaging via Switchable NIR-II Emissions

Kehong Lv

Kehong Lv

State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022 P.R. China

School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 P.R. China

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Hongxia Yue

Hongxia Yue

State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022 P.R. China

School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 P.R. China

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Chunyan Li

Chunyan Li

CAS Key Laboratory of Nano-Bio Interface, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Imaging Technology Division of Nanobiomedicine and i-Lab, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123 P.R. China

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Shengzhe Chen

Shengzhe Chen

State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022 P.R. China

School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 P.R. China

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Hongli Wang

Hongli Wang

College of Animal Science, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012 P.R. China

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Ruohao Zhang

Ruohao Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022 P.R. China

School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 P.R. China

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Jing Feng

Corresponding Author

Jing Feng

State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022 P.R. China

School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 P.R. China

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

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Hongjie Zhang

Corresponding Author

Hongjie Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022 P.R. China

School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026 P.R. China

Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 P.R. China

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

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First published: 23 May 2025

Abstract

The second near-infrared window (NIR-II) has become an attractive optical region for fluorescence imaging. However, due to the complexity in vivo, NIR-II light with various wavelengths for different imaging scenes has not been investigated. Here, we found that 1525 nm light is suitable for high-resolution fluorescence imaging due to low background interference, while its attenuation in vivo makes it unsuitable for deep imaging. The 1064 nm light is suitable for deep imaging. The impact of Yb3+ ions and the proportion of the intermediate layer in lanthanide nanoparticles on the modulation of emissions were investigated. The intense 1064 nm emission is achievable when the Yb3+ content is 80% and the intermediate layer proportion is 0.1. The bioorthogonal orthotopic liver tumor imaging could be achieved by modifying the lanthanide nanoparticles with DBCO-PEG2000-DSPE and establishing artificial receptors by N-azidoacetylmannosamine-tetraacylated (Ac4ManNAz). Lanthanide nanoparticles with the intermediate layer proportion of 0.66 and 80% Yb3+ facilitate intense 1525 nm emission, enabling the vascular imaging. Based on the imaging characteristics of NIR-II emissions with different wavelengths in vivo, this work achieves high-resolution imaging and deep imaging through intermediate layer regulation of lanthanide nanoparticles, providing an opportunity to explore a new generation of high-performance fluorescent probes.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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