Title

Small molecule fluorophore and copolymer RGD peptide conjugates for ex vivo two-photon fluorescence tumor vasculature imaging

Authors

Authors

A. R. Morales; C. O. Yanez; Y. W. Zhang; X. H. Wang; S. Biswas; T. Urakami; M. Komatsu;K. D. Belfield

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Biomaterials

Keywords

RGD peptide conjugates; Two-photon absorption; Fluorescent dyes; Copolymer probe; Two-photon fluorescence microscopy; Tumor vasculature; ALPHA(V)BETA(3) INTEGRIN ANTAGONISTS; MULTIPHOTON MICROSCOPY; QUANTUM; DOTS; EXPRESSION; TISSUE; PHOTOSTABILITY; THERAPY; CANCER; Engineering, Biomedical; Materials Science, Biomaterials

Abstract

We report the use of small molecule and block copolymer RGD peptide conjugates for deep ex vivo imaging of tumor vasculature in "whole" excised tumors using two-photon fluorescence microscopy (2PFM). The fluorescent probes were administered to mice via tail-vein injection, after which the tumors were excised, fixed, and imaged without further sample preparation. Both RGD conjugates demonstrated specific targeting to tumor blood vessels, and this selectivity imparted excellent contrast in 2PFM micrographs that captured high-resolution 3-D images of the tumor vasculature up to depths of 830 mu m in Lewis Lung Carcinoma (LLC) tumors. 2PFM ex vivo fluorescence micrographs clearly revealed tumor vessels, while differences in the sensitivity of tumor vessel imaging were apparent between the small molecule and block copolymer conjugates. Both the small molecule and polymer-based two-photon absorbing probe conjugate are valuable for deep tissue tumor microvasculature imaging. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Biomaterials

Volume

33

Issue/Number

33

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

8477

Last Page

8485

WOS Identifier

WOS:000310401000027

ISSN

0142-9612

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