In vivo imaging of the morphology and changes in pH along the gastrointestinal tract of Japanese medaka by photonic band-gap hydrogel microspheres

• Fabrication of pH-responsive photonic colloidal crystalline microspheres.
• Specific photonic band-gap responses occurred in the pH range of 4–5.
• Remarkably low in vivo toxicity to Japanese medaka (Oryzia latipes).
• In vivo imaging of the morphology and pH along GI tract of Japanese medaka.
• Demonstrates bio-imaging potentials of stimuli-responsive photonic materials.

Colloidal crystalline microspheres with photonic band-gap properties responsive to media pH have been developed for in vivo imaging purposes. These colloidal crystalline microspheres were constructed from monodispersed core–shell nano-size particles with poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) (PS-co-PAA) cores and poly(acrylic acid-co-N-isopropylacrylamide) (PAA-co-PNIPAM) hydrogel shells cross-linked by N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide. A significant shift in the photonic band-gap properties of these colloidal crystalline microspheres was observed in the pH range of 4–5. This was caused by the discontinuous volume phase transition of the hydrogel coating, due to the protonation/deprotonation of its acrylic acid moieties, on the core–shell nano-sized particles within the microspheres. The in vivo imaging capability of these pH-responsive photonic microspheres was demonstrated on a test organism – Japanese medaka, Oryzia latipes – in which the morphology and change in pH along their gastrointestinal (GI) tracts were revealed under an ordinary optical microscope. This work illustrates the potential of stimuli-responsive photonic band-gap materials in tissue-/organ-level in vivo bio-imaging.

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