Mapping Drug-Induced Neuropathy through In-Situ Motor Protein Tracking and Machine Learning

Chemotherapy can induce toxicity
in the central and peripheral
nervous systems and result in chronic adverse reactions that impede
continuous treatment and reduce patient quality of life. There is
a current lack of research to predict, identify, and offset drug-induced
neurotoxicity. Rapid and accurate assessment of potential neuropathy
is crucial for cost-effective diagnosis and treatment. Here we report
dynamic near-infrared upconversion imaging that allows intraneuronal
transport to be traced in real time with millisecond resolution, but
without photobleaching or blinking. Drug-induced neurotoxicity can
be screened prior to phenotyping, on the basis of subtle abnormalities
of kinetic characteristics in intraneuronal transport. Moreover, we
demonstrate that combining the upconverting nanoplatform with machine
learning offers a powerful tool for mapping chemotherapy-induced peripheral
neuropathy and assessing drug-induced neurotoxicity.