Figure 7
From: Development of an aptamer-conjugated fluorescent nanoprobe for MMP2
Ex vivo imaging of atherosclerotic plaques using the MMP2 aptamer-conjugated fluorescent nanoprobe. Atherosclerotic plaques were induced by feeding ApoE knockout mice a high cholesterol diet for 4 months and were confirmed by oilred O staining (middle panels). Ex vivo imaging was performed 2 h after intravenously injecting mice with the MMP2 aptamer-conjugated fluorescent nanoprobe. The MMP2 aptamer (right panels) showed much stronger signals in atherosclerotic plaques than the control aptamer (left panels).