ATP-triggered highly sensitive probes for super-resolution mitochondrial imaging and low-dose bioimaging

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), mainly produced in mitochondria, plays an important role in various pathological processes such as inflammation and acute liver injury. Fluorescence imaging is a powerful tool for imaging tissue structure and function in vivo. To date, the lack of biocompatible ATP probes with bright fluorescence emission has hindered their application in basic research and clinical trials. Here, we report a method for preparing ATP probes using a ZIF-90 potting dye, which produces bright ATP probes by encapsulating a modified high fluorescence quantum yield dye into a ZIF-90 skeleton. The nanoprobe does not fluoresce due to the coating. ATP can cooperate with Zn2+ to decompose the nanoprobe structure, release the dye and restore the fluorescence. Both nanoprobes ORhBSO2@ZIF-90 and SiRhBSO2@ZIF-90 showed higher sensitivity than the reported ATP nanoprobes with detection limits of 7.56 μM and 6.6 μM, and with lower doses (10 μg mL-1) of probes for cell imaging. In addition, SiRhBSO2@ZIF-90 has also been successfully used in the liver injury model. The ZIF-90 encapsulation strategy can retain the high fluorescence quantum yield and improve the biocompatibility of the dye.