Two-photon microscopy of oxygen: polymersomes as probe carrier vehicles

J Phys Chem B. 2010 Nov 18;114(45):14373-82. doi: 10.1021/jp100353v. Epub 2010 May 12.

Abstract

Oxygen concentration distributions in biological systems can be imaged by the phosphorescence quenching method in combination with two-photon laser scanning microscopy. In this paper, we identified the excitation regime in which the signal of a two-photon-enhanced phosphorescent probe (Finikova, O. S.; Lebedev, A. Y.; Aprelev, A.; Troxler, T.; Gao, F.; Garnacho, C.; Muro, S.; Hochstrasser, R. M.; Vinogradov, S. A. ChemPhysChem 2008, 9, 1673-1679) is dependent quadratically on the excitation power (quadratic regime), and performed simulations that relate the photophysical properties of the probe to the imaging resolution. Further, we characterized polymersomes as a method of probe encapsulation and delivery. Photophysical and oxygen sensing properties of the probe were found unchanged when the probe is encapsulated in polymersomes. Polymersomes were found capable of sustaining high probe concentrations, thereby serving to improve the signal-to-noise ratios for oxygen detection compared to the previously employed probe delivery methods. Imaging of polymersomes loaded with the probe was used as a test-bed for a new method.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Luminescent Agents / chemistry*
  • Luminescent Measurements
  • Microscopy / methods*
  • Molecular Imaging
  • Oxygen / chemistry*
  • Oxygen / metabolism
  • Photons*
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Substrate Specificity

Substances

  • Luminescent Agents
  • Polymers
  • Oxygen