由于心血管疾病的死亡率升高，心肌纤维化成为大多数心脏病及其相关病理的显着病理改变，从而增加了心源性猝死的可能性。因此，及时、强制性地识别心肌纤维化对于避免患有心脏病的患者发生恶性事件至关重要。在此，利用在心脏纤维化组织中发现的高表达骨桥蛋白（OPN），我们开发了一种双模态成像探针，即 OPN 靶向纳米颗粒（OPN@PFP-DiR NPs），其负载全氟戊烷（PFP）用于超声（美国）和1,1-二十八烷基-3,3,3,3-四甲基吲哚三碳花青碘化物 (DiR) 用于近红外荧光 (NIR) 分子成像，利用 US 和 NIR 成像研究心脏纤维化的分子特征。随后，将 OPN@PFP-DiR NPs 静脉注射至心肌梗死 (MI) 小鼠模型中。采用超声和近红外分子成像技术来可视化纳米颗粒在纤维化心肌中的积累。因此，这项研究提出了一种有价值的非侵入性、经济有效的实时成像方法来评估心脏纤维化，具有广阔的临床应用前景。该期刊版权所有©英国皇家化学学会。

Due to the elevated fatality rate of cardiovascular diseases, myocardial fibrosis emerges as a prominent pathological alteration in the majority of heart ailments and their associated pathologies, thereby augmenting the likelihood of sudden cardiac death. Consequently, the prompt and obligatory identification of myocardial fibrosis assumes paramount importance in averting malignant incidents among patients afflicted with cardiac disorders. Herein, with higher expression osteopontin (OPN) found in cardiac fibrosis tissue, we have developed a dual-modality imaging probe, namely OPN targeted nanoparticles (OPN@PFP-DiR NPs), which loaded perfluoropentane (PFP) for ultrasound (US) and 1,1-dioctadecyl-3,3,3,3-tetramethylindotricarbocyanine iodide (DiR) for near-infrared fluorescence (NIR) of molecular imaging, to investigate the molecular features of cardiac fibrosis using US and NIR imaging. Subsequently, the OPN@PFP-DiR NPs were administered intravenously to a mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI). The US and NIR molecular imaging techniques were employed to visualize the accumulation of the nanoparticles in the fibrotic myocardium. Hence, this research presents a valuable noninvasive, cost-effective, and real-time imaging method for evaluating cardiac fibrosis, with promising clinical applications.This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.