Near-Infrared Illumination of Native Tissues for Image-Guided Surgery

Our
initial efforts to prepare tissue-specific near-infrared (NIR)
fluorescent compounds generated successful correlation between physicochemical
properties and global uptake in major organs after systemic circulation
and biodistribution. Herein, we focus on the effects on biodistribution
based on modulating electronic influencing moieties from donating
to withdrawing moieties at both the heterocyclic site and through meso-substitution of pentamethine cyanine fluorophores.
These selected modifications harnessed innate biodistribution pathways
through the structure-inherent targeting, resulting in effective imaging
of the adrenal glands, pituitary gland, lymph nodes, pancreas, and
thyroid and salivary glands. These native-tissue contrast agents will
arm surgeons with a powerful and versatile arsenal for intraoperative
NIR imaging in real time.