Macromolecular Probes for the Diagnosis of Kidney Disease

Macromolecular Probes for the Diagnosis of Kidney Disease

Author: Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Fluorescence imaging in the near-infrared range of the spectrum (NIR-II, 900-1700 nm) can be useful for noninvasive bioimaging in vivo with high resolution. However, it is still a challenge to fabricate renal-clearable (i.e., passing through the kidneys) NIR-II fluorophores with high brightness and long blood-circulation time for the early diagnosis of kidney disease.

Fan Zhang, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, and colleagues have developed a general method for the synthesis of renal-clearable aza-boron-dipyrromethene (aza-BODIPY)-containing macromolecular probes, called Fudan BDIPY Probes (FBP, example pictured). Four different probes were prepared via the radical polymerization of oligo(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (OEGMA500) using different aza-BODIPY atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiators.

The synthesized probes show tunable emission from 725 to 1025 nm, high renal-clearance efficiencies (ca. 65 % excretion through the kidney within 12 h), and prolonged blood circulation times of t1/2 ≈ 6.1 h. They provide about ten-fold higher brightness than traditional NIR-II renal-clearable probes. The FBP probes could provide good performance for the non-invasive diagnosis of, e.g., renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (damage caused by a temporary impairment of the blood flow to the kidneys) or renal tumors.


 

 

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