Abstract
Featured article: Kim S, Lim YT, Soltesz EG, De Grand AM, Lee J, Nakayama A, Parker JA, Mihaljevic T, Laurence RG, Dor DM, Cohn LH, Bawendi MG, Frangioni JV. Near-infrared fluorescent type II quantum dots for sentinel lymph node mapping. Nat Biotechnol 2004;22:93–7.2 Near-infrared (NIR)3 (700–2500 nm) in vivo imaging with semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) can offer nonradioactive extraction of medical information, thus providing new opportunities for clinical diagnostic imaging in deep (>1 cm) tissues for diagnosing cancer and other tissue abnormalities (1). NIR light can propagate over several centimeters because of the low absorbance of tissue chromophores. However, fluorescent imaging performed with NIR contrast agents had not been fully explored because of the limited sources of these agents. The fluorophores for NIR imaging had been typically limited to the general class of cyanine dyes such as indocyanine green. Molecule-based fluorophores inherently suffered from limited brightness because of enhanced coupling with vibrational modes at longer wavelengths. As a result, fluorescent molecules could not be easily found for emission wavelengths over 800 nm. Transitions in atomic energy levels (i.e., transition metals) could be exploited only after the …
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
