Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are key regulators in numerous pathological contexts, including cancer or inflammation. Their role is complex, which justifies the need for methods enabling their quantitative and time-resolved monitoring in vivo, in the perspective to profile tissues of individual patients. However, current ROS detection methods do not provide these features. Here, we propose a new method based on the imaging of lanthanide-ion nanoparticles (GdVO4:Eu), whose photoluminescence is modulated by the surrounding ROS concentration. We monitored their luminescence after intradermic injection in a mouse ear submitted to an inflammation-inducing topical stimulus. Based on this approach, we quantified the ROS concentration after inflammation induction and identified a two-step kinetics of ROS production, which may be attributed to the response of resident immune cells and their further recruitment at the inflammation locus.
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