Mitochondria-Targetable Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe for Visualization of Hydrogen Peroxide in Lung Injury, Liver Injury, and Tumor Models

Anal Chem. 2024 Jul 2;96(26):10488-10495. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c05479. Epub 2024 Jun 20.

Abstract

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) overexpressed in mitochondria has been regarded as a key biomarker in the pathological processes of various diseases. However, there is currently a lack of suitable mitochondria-targetable near-infrared (NIR) probes for the visualization of H2O2 in multiple diseases, such as PM2.5 exposure-induced lung injury, hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI), nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL), hepatic fibrosis (HF), and malignant tumor tissues containing clinical cancer patient samples. Herein, we conceived a novel NIR fluorescent probe (HCy-H2O2) by introducing pentafluorobenzenesulfonyl as a H2O2 sensing unit into the NIR hemicyanine platform. HCy-H2O2 exhibits good sensitivity and selectivity toward H2O2, accompanied by a remarkable "turn-on" fluorescence signal at 720 nm. Meanwhile, HCy-H2O2 has stable mitochondria-targetable ability and permits monitoring of the up-generated H2O2 level during mitophagy. Furthermore, using HCy-H2O2, we have successfully observed an overproduced mitochondrial H2O2 in ambient PM2.5 exposure-induced lung injury, HIRI, NAFL, and HF models through NIR fluorescence imaging. Significantly, the visualization of H2O2 has been achieved in both tumor-bear mice as well as surgical specimens of cancer patients, making HCy-H2O2 a promising tool for cancer diagnosis and imaging-guided surgery.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Fluorescent Dyes* / chemical synthesis
  • Fluorescent Dyes* / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Peroxide* / metabolism
  • Infrared Rays
  • Lung Injury / chemically induced
  • Lung Injury / diagnostic imaging
  • Lung Injury / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mitochondria* / chemistry
  • Mitochondria* / metabolism
  • Optical Imaging*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Hydrogen Peroxide