A Schematic illustration of the mechanism of the pH-sensitive nanotheranostic system. (SPIO: superparamagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals, SA: stearic acid, PEI: polyethylenimine, HHPA: hexahydrophthalic anhydride, SPA: hexahydrophthalic anhydride modified stearic acid-grafted polyethylenimine. B Time-lapse NIR images of mice treated with IR780, SP-SPIO-IR780 or SPA-SPIO-IR780 nanosystems, respectively. C MRI (colour mapping) of the tumour site before and 24 hours post injection of SP-SPIO-IR780 and SPA-SPIO-IR780, 3.0 T. Adapted with permission from 116, copyright 2013 Royal Society of Chemistry.