Photothermal-Promoted Morphology Transformation <i>in Vivo</i> Monitored by Photoacoustic Imaging.

Abstract

The <i>in situ</i> construction of the nanoassembly has been demonstrated to improve the performance of bioactive molecules, but the control of the morphology of nanomaterials <i>in vivo</i> still remains a tremendous challenge. Herein, a photothermal-promoted morphology transformation (PMT) strategy is developed to accelerate the formation of nanomaterials for improving the biological performance of drug molecules. Compared with the spontaneous process, the rate of transformation increases by ∼4 times in the PMT process. Owing to increased assembly rate, the tumor accumulation of drugs is ∼2-fold than that without photo irradiation, which inhibits tumor growth effectively. More importantly, the chemical reassembly process <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> is monitored by the advanced ratiometric photoacoustic image, confirming the photoinduced transformation acceleration. Through the noninvasively artificial control on assembly dynamics <i>in vivo</i>, the PMT strategy provides a new insight for developing the intelligent theranostics.