Near-infrared fluorescent probe for visualizing hydrogen sulfide fluctuations during arthritis and its treatment

Arthritis, a common joint disease, has acquired extensive attention from researchers due to its high incidence and still difficult to treat. Hydrogen sulfide, a typical anti-oxidative stress signaling molecule, plays a key role in maintaining redox homeostasis and we therefore speculate that H2S is closely associated with arthritis. In this paper, a novel near-infrared H2S fluorescent probe, NIR-Ar-H2S, was rationally designed and synthesized for visualizing the changes of H2S content in arthritis. The probe possesses many advantages such as near-infrared emission, a large Stokes shift, good optical stability, and low detection limit (0.18 μM), which guarantees the detection of exogenous and endogenous H2S. More importantly, H2S levels were elevated in the arthritis model compared to normal joints, whereas H2S levels decreased after treatment. We expect that this finding will provide valuable guidance for the diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation of arthritis, thereby facilitating arthritis pathology research and drug development.