Abstract
Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is useful to monitor cell movement and gene expression in live animals. However, D-luciferin has a short wavelength (560 nm) which is absorbed by tissues and the use of near-infrared (NIR) luciferin analogues enable high sensitivity in vivo BLI. The AkaLumine-AkaLuc BLI system (Aka-BLI) can detect resolution at the single-cell level; however, it has a clear hepatic background signal. Here, to enable the highly sensitive detection of bioluminescence from the surrounding liver tissues, we focused on seMpai (C15H16N3O2S) which has been synthesized as a luciferin analogue and has high luminescent abilities as same as AkaLumine. We demonstrated that seMpai BLI could detect micro-signals near the liver without any background signal. The solution of seMpai was neutral; therefore, seMpai imaging did not cause any adverse effect in mice. seMpai enabled a highly sensitive in vivo BLI as compared to previous techniques. Our findings suggest that the development of a novel mutated luciferase against seMpai may enable a highly sensitive BLI at the single-cell level without any background signal. Novel seMpai BLI system can be used for in vivo imaging in the fields of life sciences and medicine.
Highlights
Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is used to monitor the behavior of cells and molecules in animal studies [1,2]
The in vivo BLI system with luciferase is used for the quantification of tumor volume, monitoring gene expression and detection of cancer metastasis [3,4,5,6,7,8]
To improve the background signal in NIR BLI, we focused on a luciferin analogue seMpai (C15H16N3O2S), which demonstrates a high level of luminescence similar to that of AkaLumine and TokeOni [17]
Summary
Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is used to monitor the behavior of cells and molecules in animal studies [1,2]. The in vivo BLI system with luciferase is used for the quantification of tumor volume, monitoring gene expression and detection of cancer metastasis [3,4,5,6,7,8]. High sensitivity in vivo BLI in deep tissues is difficult by absorption of short wavelength bioluminescence. Recent studies showed that luciferase-luciferin analogue reactions at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths enable a highly sensitive in vivo BLI [9,10]. The AkaLumine-AkaLuc bioluminescence imaging system (Aka-BLI) at NIR wavelengths can detect resolution at the single-cell level in several live animals [11]. NIR imaging techniques using luciferin analogues are used in oncology, neuroscience and ethology [2,12,13,14]
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