Aging Diagnostic Probe for Research on Aging and Evaluation of Anti-aging Drug Efficacy

Aging is a biological process, and its gradual degeneration of physiological functions leads to an increase in morbidity and mortality. At present, more and more studies on aging and anti-aging drugs have been conducted, which are of great significance for promoting human health, treating aging-related diseases, and prolonging human life. In the process of aging research and evaluation of anti-aging drugs, β-galactosidase, as an important criterion of aging, has received extensive attention. However, there is a scarcity of effective and reliable tools for aging research and anti-aging drug evaluation based on the aging markers. Hence, we developed a new highly sensitive fluorescent probe, YDGAL, for β-galactosidase, which exhibited good affinity for β-gal (Km = 12.35 μM), fast response speed (stable within 10 min), and extremely low detection limit (2.185 × 10–6 U/mL). Owing to the above advantages, the robust probe can visualize aging and evaluate the efficacy of anti-aging drugs at the cellular and organ levels by detecting β-galactosidase. Through visual imaging of mouse organs, we found that the organs had different degrees of aging; dasatinib and quercetin combination therapy had a therapeutic effect on the mice, but the different organs showed distinct clearance rates on the senescent cells, which may be the limitation of the drugs. We believe that this interesting finding could provide a powerful guidance for the research on aging and the evaluation of anti-aging drugs in the future.