Non-Solvatochromic Cell Membrane-Targeted NIR Fluorescent Probe for Visualization of Polarity Abnormality in Drug-Induced Liver Injury Mice

Noninvasive visualization of liver polarity by using fluorescence imaging technology is helpful to better understand drug-induced liver injury (DILI). However, cell membrane-targeted polarity-sensitive near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes are still scarce. Herein, we report a non-solvatochromic cell membrane-targeted NIR small molecular probe (N-BPM-C10) for monitoring the polarity changes on cell membranes in living cells and in vivo. N-BPM-C10 exhibits polarity-dependent fluorescence around 655 nm without an obvious solvatochromic effect, which endows it with good capability for the in vivo imaging study. Moreover, it can rapidly and selectively light up the cell membranes as well as distinguish tumor cells from normal cells due to its excellent polarity-sensitive ability. More importantly, N-BPM-C10 has been successfully applied to visualize liver polarity changes in vivo, revealing the reduction of liver polarity in DILI mice. We believe that N-BPM-C10 provides a new way for the diagnosis of DILI.