Evaluation of Temperature-Sensitive, Indocyanine Green-Encapsulating Micelles for Noninvasive Near-Infrared Tumor Imaging

Purpose Indocyanine green (ICG), an FDA-approved near infrared (NIR) dye, has potential application as a contrast agent for tumor detection. Because ICG binds strongly to plasma proteins and exhibits aqueous, photo, and thermal instability, its current applications are largely limited to monitoring blood flow. To address these issues, ICG was encapsulated and stabilized within polymeric micelles formed from the thermo-sensitive block copolymer Pluronic F-127, poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide), to increase the stability and circulation time of ICG.