A new near-infrared fluorescence indicator derived from chloro-substituted dicyanoisophorone for detecting carboxylesterases (CEs) in living cells and in vivo

• Published in: Dyes and pigments 2022-09, Vol.205, p.110549, Article 110549
• Main Authors: Dong, Junqiang, Gao, Jianbo, Wang, Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carboxylesterases; Detection; Fluorescent probe; In vivo; Near-infrared
• ISSN: 0143-7208; 1873-3743
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dyepig.2022.110549

Carboxylesterase (CEs) are a kind of liver-synthesized esterase and play a great role in various physiological activities such as drug metabolism and transport processes. Accurate detection of their activity through near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence probe with large Stokes shift is still needed to investigate their biological function and diagnose related disease in vivo. In present study, a new “off-on” fluorescent probe (ZM-1) was constructed with large Stokes shift (160 nm). ZM-1 could be used to detect CEs with a bright NIR emission in a concentration dependent and time-dependent manner. The detection line of ZM-1 is as low as 0.287 × 10−3 U/mL. Moreover, ZM-1 possessed high selectivity and low toxicity. ZM-1 exhibited good optical performance to track CEs activity in cells and monitor the change of CEs activity on 5-Fu-induced model, indicating its good cell membrane permeability and precise detection character. More importantly, ZM-1 was successfully used to in situ image CEs activity in vivo. These studies suggest that probe ZM-1 has potential applicable valuation for CEs detection in living bio-systems and CEs-related disease diagnose. •We reported a new chloro-substituted dicyanoisophorone-based near-infrared probe (ZM-1) for CEs detection.•ZM-1 exhibited high sensitivity (LOD∼ 0.287 × 10−3 U/mL).•ZM-1 featured large Stokes shift (160 nm), low toxicity, selectivity for CEs detection.•ZM-1 was successfully applied to image CEs in living cells and in vivo.