Advanced Photoacoustic Imaging Applications of Near-Infrared Absorbing Organic Nanoparticles

Progress of nanotechnology in recent years has stimulated fast development of nanoparticles in biomedical research. Photoacoustic (PA) imaging as an emerging non-invasive technique in molecular imaging has improved imaging depth relative to conventional optical imaging, demonstrating great potential in clinical applications. The convergence of nanotechnology and PA imaging has enabled a broad spectrum of new opportunities in fundamental biology and translation medicine. This review focuses on the recent advances of organic nanoparticles in PA imaging applications. Near-infrared absorbing organic nanoparticles are classified and discussed according to their different imaging applications, which include tumor imaging, gastrointestinal imaging, sentinel lymph node imaging, disease microenvironment imaging and real-time drug imaging. The chemistry and PA properties of organic nanoparticles are discussed in details to highlight their own merits, and their challenges and perspectives in PA imaging are also discussed.