ATP fluorescent nanoprobe based on ZIF-90 and near-infrared dyes for imaging in tumor mice

Abstract

ATP is the direct source of energy required for all life activities and can be used as a cancer biomarker. Although several fluorescent probes are developed to detect ATP, most of them have the problem of poor stability or short emission that is not suitable for in-vivo imaging. Herein, three ATP-responsive near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent nanoprobes are prepared by encapsulating NIR fluorescent dyes in the pores of ZIF-90. Among them, CP@ZIF-90 nanoprobe has the longest emission wavelength (705 nm) and the largest fluorescence enhancement (32-fold) for ATP detection. Moreover, the nanoprobe has excellent photostability and chemical stability. It is worth to point that carboxyl group in fluorescent dyes plays the important role, which provides a direction for the construction of NIR fluorescent nanoprobes based on ZIF-90. In addition, CP@ZIF-90 has good biocompatibility and the ability to enrich in tumor. It is successfully used for fluorescence imaging of endogenous and exogenous ATP levels in real-time in living cells (293 T and CT26 cells). More importantly, CP@ZIF-90 has shown excellent ability in distinguishing normal mice from tumor mice, which make it have the possibility of being an effective technique for cancer early diagnosis in vivo by imaging ATP.