posted on 2021-11-29, 16:08authored byWei Li, Yang Shen, Xiangyang Gong, Xiao-Bing Zhang, Lin Yuan
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S),
emerging as an important gaseous
signal, has attracted more and more attention for its key role in
chronic fatty liver diseases. However, lacking tools for H2S-specific in situ detection, the changes of endogenous hepatic H2S levels in the pathological progression of chronic liver
diseases are still unclear. To this end, we adopted a strategy of
combining molecular probe design and nanofunctionalization to develop
a highly selective near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe, which allows
in vivo real-time monitoring of hepatic H2S levels in the
process of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). As a proof of
strategy demonstration, we first designed NIR molecular probes for
H2S sensing through chemical design and probe screening
and then loaded molecular probes into mesoporous silicon nanomaterials
(MSNs) with surface encapsulation using poly(ethylene glycol) to construct
a highly selective probe MSN@CSN@PEG, with significantly
improved selectivity and photostability. Moreover, MSN@CSN@PEG exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity for endogenous H2S in cells and tumors in vivo, eliminating the interference
of a high concentration of biothiols and sulfhydryl proteins. Furthermore,
the probe was applied to in situ intravital imaging and systematic
assessment of hepatic H2S levels in different stages of
NAFLD for the first time, which may offer a promising tool for the
future study of fatty liver diseases and other chronic liver diseases.