Bay Leaf Extract-Based Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe for Tissue and Cellular Imaging.

Benilde Adriano,Meena Jaggi,Subhash C Chauhan,Neeraj Chauhan,Vinita Karumuru,Nycol M Cotto,Murali M Yallapu

doi:10.3390/jimaging7120256

Benilde Adriano, Meena Jaggi + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/jimaging7120256

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Abstract

The development of fluorescence dyes for near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging has been a significant interest for deep tissue imaging. Among many imaging fluoroprobes, indocyanine green (ICG) and its analogues have been used in oncology and other medical applications. However, these imaging agents still experience poor imaging capabilities due to low tumor targetability, photostability, and sensitivity in the biological milieu. Thus, developing a biocompatible NIR imaging dye from natural resources holds the potential of facilitating cancer cell/tissue imaging. Chlorophyll (Chl) has been demonstrated to be a potential candidate for imaging purposes due to its natural NIR absorption qualities and its wide availability in plants and green vegetables. Therefore, it was our aim to assess the fluorescence characteristics of twelve dietary leaves as well as the fluorescence of their Chl extractions. Bay leaf extract, a high-fluorescence agent that showed the highest levels of fluorescence, was further evaluated for its tissue contrast and cellular imaging properties. Overall, this study confirms bay-leaf-associated dye as a NIR fluorescence imaging agent that may have important implications for cellular imaging and image-guided cancer surgery.

Highlights

Cancer is one of the major leading causes of death in the United States
Impactful cancer management relies on early cancer detection but, despite having the readily available equipment in clinical settings for the detection and diagnosis of cancer, such as ultrasounds, X-rays, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the 2021 statistics indicate only a slight increase from those reported in 2010 [2]
The visual observation suggested that bay leaf, collard, lettuce, mint, oregano, and spinach leaves exhibited higher fluorescence compared to the other group of leaves

Summary

Introduction

Cancer is one of the major leading causes of death in the United States. It has been estimated that in 2021, a total of 1.9 million new cases of cancer and 608,570 deaths will occur in the United States alone [1]. Impactful cancer management relies on early cancer detection but, despite having the readily available equipment in clinical settings for the detection and diagnosis of cancer, such as ultrasounds, X-rays, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the 2021 statistics indicate only a slight increase from those reported in 2010 [2]. This limited improvement may be attributed to the lack of sensitive and specific detection by these methods [3].

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