Recently, Eil et al. showed that tumors with necrotic cores had elevated K+ concentrations due to the release of K+ by necrosis, which acts to suppress T-cell function by high extracellular K+ concentration. These findings demonstrate the importance of developing a tool for imaging K+ distributions. Here, we demonstrate K+ nanosensor-enabled photoacoustic imaging for measuring K+ levels in vivo. The nanosensor is an in-house synthesized optical contrast agent that is sensitive to K+ levels within biological ranges. The use of this K+ nanosensor, combined with multi-spectral photoacoustic imaging, allowed measurement of K+ levels in vivo.
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