Bioluminescent probes are widely used to monitor biomedically relevant processes and cellular targets in living animals. However, the absorption and scattering of visible light by tissue drastically limit the depth and resolution of the detection of luminescence. Here we show that bioluminescent sources can be detected with magnetic resonance imaging by leveraging the light-mediated activation of vascular cells expressing a photosensitive bacterial enzyme that causes the conversion of bioluminescent emission into local changes in haemodynamic contrast. In the brains of rats with photosensitized vasculature, we used magnetic resonance imaging to volumetrically map bioluminescent xenografts and cell populations virally transduced to express luciferase. Detecting bioluminescence-induced haemodynamic signals from photosensitized vasculature will extend the applications of bioluminescent probes.

生物发光探针广泛用于监测活体动物的生物医学相关过程和细胞目标。然而，组织对可见光的吸收和散射极大地限制了发光检测的深度和分辨率。在这里，我们表明，通过利用表达光敏细菌酶的血管细胞的光介导激活，可以通过磁共振成像来检测生物发光源，该酶导致生物发光发射转化为血液动力学对比度的局部变化。在具有光敏血管系统的大鼠大脑中，我们使用磁共振成像来体积绘制生物发光异种移植物和病毒转导表达荧光素酶的细胞群。检测来自光敏脉管系统的生物发光诱导的血液动力学信号将扩展生物发光探针的应用。