Yang Dongxu, Qu Tianyi, Teng Ling, Wang Caihui, Bai Weiyi, Li Shufen, Zhuang Weihua, Hu Wengchuang
Precision Medicine Translational Research Center (PMTRC), Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Laboratory Medicine Research Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, Sichuan, China.
Laboratory of Cardiac Structure and Function, Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Anal Methods. 2025 Jun 19;17(24):4970-4975. doi: 10.1039/d5ay00499c.
Dysfunction of lipid droplets (LDs) is closely associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Although fluorescence imaging has the advantages of noninvasiveness and high spatiotemporal resolution in the detection of LDs, the imaging performance of existing commercial fluorescent probes is still unsatisfactory. In this study, we developed two novel fluorescent probes, DAB-LD and DAI-LD, featuring twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) properties for efficient LD-specific imaging. These probes exhibit minimal fluorescence in aqueous solutions but significantly enhanced emission in lipid environments, indicating good photophysical properties and biocompatibility. Moreover, both of these probes specifically target intracellular LDs and exhibit excellent imaging performance. Importantly, DAI-LD has shown effective imaging capabilities in a mouse model of NAFLD. This study not only provides a robust tool for NAFLD research but also introduces a new strategy for designing LDs-specific fluorescent probes.
脂滴功能障碍与非酒精性脂肪性肝病（NAFLD）密切相关。尽管荧光成像在脂滴检测中具有非侵入性和高时空分辨率的优点，但现有商业荧光探针的成像性能仍不尽人意。在本研究中，我们开发了两种新型荧光探针DAB-LD和DAI-LD，它们具有扭曲分子内电荷转移（TICT）特性，可实现高效的脂滴特异性成像。这些探针在水溶液中荧光微弱，但在脂质环境中发射显著增强，表明具有良好的光物理性质和生物相容性。此外，这两种探针均特异性靶向细胞内脂滴并表现出优异的成像性能。重要的是，DAI-LD已在NAFLD小鼠模型中显示出有效的成像能力。本研究不仅为NAFLD研究提供了一个强大的工具，还引入了一种设计脂滴特异性荧光探针的新策略。
