Near-infrared (NIR)-II fluorescence
and photoacoustic
(PA) dual-model
imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) can precisely diagnose and
treat tumors and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy in real-time. Herein,
we utilized a donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) structured hemicyanine
dye (named M1) with a large conjugated structure and strong intramolecular
charge transfer effect and demonstrated that the aggregation of M1
could significantly enhance its photophysical performance by improving
its photostability and photothermal conversion capability as compared
with M1 in a single molecular state. Furthermore, we prepared water-dispersible
NIR-II fluorescent nanoparticles (M1 NPs) by wrapping M1 with DSPE-PEG2000-NH2. The obtained M1 NPs exhibit strong NIR-I absorption and
NIR-II fluorescence with their maxima at 734 and 1040 nm, respectively,
with a fluorescence quantum yield of 2.84%. Moreover, M1 NPs also
exhibit excellent biocompatibility, good photostability, and high
photothermal conversion efficiency of 77.5%. In vitro and in vivo experiments reveal that M1 NPs can
effectively image tumors through NIR-II fluorescence and PA signals,
inhibit DNA replication, trigger cytoskeleton collapse, and eventually
induce tumor cell apoptosis under 808 nm laser irradiation. Based
on these outstanding properties, the application of M1 NPs in PA and
NIR-II fluorescence imaging-guided PTT of tumors is demonstrated.