Construction of a multifunctional bio-probe based on lanthanides for UCL/MR/CT multimodal imaging in vivo.

Multimodal bioimaging is beneficial for clinical diagnosis and research due to the provision of comprehensive diagnostic information. However, the design of multifunctional bio-probes aggregating multiple bioimaging functions is greatly challenging. In this study, a multifunctional bio-probe based on lanthanide-based nanomaterials Sr2GdF7: Yb3+/Er3+/Tm3+ (abbreviated as SGF) was developed for in vivo multimodal imaging by co-adopting apropos lanthanides and tuning their molar ratio. The experimental results indicated that SGF incorporated multiple excellent properties, such as 10 nm small size, optimal red-NIR region emissions, strong paramagnetism, excellent X-ray absorption ability and high biological safety. More importantly, SGF successfully realized in vivo multimodal imaging of upconversion luminescence (UCL), magnetic resonance (MR) and X-ray computed tomography (CT) at the animal level. Thus, SGF is expected to become a multifunctional bio-probe for clinical research/diagnosis. This research would promote the application and transformation of lanthanide fluorides nanomaterials in the field of clinical diagnosis to a certain extent.