Bright, photostable, and long-circulating NIR-II nanoparticles for whole-process monitoring and evaluation of renal transplantation

Kidney transplantation is the gold standard for the treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, the scarcity of kidneys has caused more and more ESRD patients being stuck on the waiting-list for surgery. Improving the survival rate of kidney grafts as much as possible is not only responsible for patients, but also an alternative solution to kidney shortage. Thus, rapid diagnosis and timely management of surgical complications are of vital importance to the success of renal transplantation but lack efficient methods and technologies. Herein, a fluorescence technology based on bright, photostable, and long-circulating aggregation-induced emission (AIE) active NIR-II nano contrast agent for the whole-process monitoring and evaluation of renal transplantation has been reported. The outstanding optical property and long-circulating characteristic of the AIE NPs help to achieve renal angiography in the kidney retrieval surgery, donor kidney quality evaluation before transplantation, diagnosing vascular complications, and assessment of renal graft reperfusion after revascularization, which considerably outperforms the clinically approved indocyanine green (ICG).