Hypoxia-Responsive Luminescent CEST MRI Agent for In Vitro and In Vivo Tumor Detection and Imaging.

Hypoxia is a feature of most solid tumors and a key determinant of cancer growth and propagation. Sensing hypoxia effectively could lead to more favorable clinical outcomes. Here, we report a molecular antenna-based bimodal probe designed to exploit the complementary advantages of magnetic resonance (MR)- and optical-based imaging. Specifically, we describe the synthesis and evaluation of a dual-action probe (NO2-Eu) that permits hypoxia-activated chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MR and optical imaging. In CT26 cells, this NO2-Eu probe not only provides an enhanced CEST MRI signal but also turns "on" the optical signal under hypoxic conditions. Time-dependent in vivo CEST imaging in a hypoxic CT26 tumor xenograft mouse model revealed probe-dependent tumor detection by CEST MRI contrast in the tumor area. We thus suggest that dual-action hypoxia probes, like that reported here, could have a role to play in solid tumor diagnosis and monitoring.

Photo-crosslinkable hydrogel-based 3D microfluidic culture device.

We developed the photo-crosslinkable hydrogel-based 3D microfluidic device to culture neural stem cells (NSCs) and tumors. The photo-crosslinkable gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) polymer was used as a physical barrier in the microfluidic device and collagen type I gel was employed to culture NSCs in a 3D manner. We demonstrated that the pore size was inversely proportional to concentrations of GelMA hydrogels, showing the pore sizes of 5 and 25 w/v% GelMA hydrogels were 34 and 4 µm, respectively. It also revealed that the morphology of pores in 5 w/v% GelMA hydrogels was elliptical shape, whereas we observed circular-shaped pores in 25 w/v% GelMA hydrogels. To culture NSCs and tumors in the 3D microfluidic device, we investigated the molecular diffusion properties across GelMA hydrogels, indicating that 25 w/v% GelMA hydrogels inhibited the molecular diffusion for 6 days in the 3D microfluidic device. In contrast, the chemicals were diffused in 5 w/v% GelMA hydrogels. Finally, we cultured NSCs and tumors in the hydrogel-based 3D microfluidic device, showing that 53-75% NSCs differentiated into neurons, while tumors were cultured in the collagen gels. Therefore, this photo-crosslinkable hydrogel-based 3D microfluidic culture device could be a potentially powerful tool for regenerative tissue engineering applications.