Exploiting the Twisted Intramolecular Charge Transfer
Effect to Construct a Wash-Free Solvatochromic Fluorescent Lipid Droplet
Probe for Fatty Liver Disease Diagnosis
The
prominent pathological feature of fatty liver disease lesions
is excessive fat accumulation in lipid droplets in hepatocytes. Thus,
developing fluorescent lipid droplet-specific probes with high permeability
and a high imaging contrast provides a robust tool for diagnosing
fatty liver diseases. Herein, we rationally developed a novel donor–acceptor
lipophilic fluorescent probe ANI with high photostability for wash-free
visualization of lipid droplets and fatty liver disease characteristics.
ANI showed a typical twisted intramolecular charge transfer effect
with very faint fluorescence in high-polar solvents, but dramatically
boosted emissions in low-polar environments. The solvatochromic probe
can selectively light up lipid droplets with a high contrast in a
wash-free manner. Further use of ANI to reveal the excessive accumulation
of lipid droplets with a significantly large size in the liver tissues
from the fatty liver disease model mice was successfully demonstrated.
The remarkable imaging performances rendered ANI an alternative tool
for accurately evaluating fatty liver disease in intraoperative diagnosis.