Rational design AIE fluorescent probes for wash-free and lipid droplet specific imaging of fatty liver based on coumarin

Abstract

The aberrant accumulation of Lipid droplets (LDs) is connected to various diseases, in particular, fatty liver. Therefore, the development of fluorescent LDs-targeting probes with excellent permeability and high imaging contrast could provide powerful tools for the diagnosis of fatty liver disease. In this work, we constructed a family of fluorescent probes B1–B6 based on the coumarin moiety, which exhibited the aggregation-induced emission property (except for B5), an ultrahigh signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and wash-free property (except for B6). With the advantage of ultrafast staining, compound B2 was successfully applied to real-time detection of dynamic LDs in living cells, such as motion, dissociation and fusion processes. By establishing the mouse model with LDs-related fatty liver, the imaging performance of compound B2 at the pathological tissue level was well investigated, implying exceptional selectivity and resolution. Taken together, this work would develop a promising method for LDs investigation, which contributed to a deeper insight into the physiological significance of LDs.