Noninvasive and real-time pharmacokinetics imaging of polymeric nanoagents in the thoracoepigastric vein networks of living mice

Noninvasive and real-time visualization of the thoracoepigastric veins (TVs) of living mice was demonstrated by using two-photon excitation (TPE) optical imaging with a Eu-luminescent polymeric nanoagent as the angiographic contrast. The spatiotemporal evolution of the polymeric nanoagent in TVs was monitored for up to 2 h by TPE time-resolved (TPE-TR) bioimaging, which is free from the interference of tissue autofluorescence. A wide field-of-view covering the thoracoabdominal region allowed the visualization of the entire TV network with an imaging depth of 1 to 2 mm and a lateral resolution of 80 mu m at submillimeter. Detailed analysis of the uptake, transport, and clearance processes of the polymeric nanoagent revealed a clearance time constant of similar to 30 min and an apparent clearance efficiency of 80% to 90% for the nanoagent in both axial and lateral TVs. TPE-TR imaging of the dissected internal organs proved that the liver is mainly responsible for the sequestration of the nanoagent, which is consistent with the apparent retention efficiency of liver, similar to 32%, as determined by the real-time in vivo TV imaging. We demonstrate the potency of TPE-TR modality in the pharmacokinetics imaging of the peripheral vascular systems of animal models, which can be beneficial for related nanotheranostics study. (C) The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License.