Fast-Responsive HClO-Activated Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe for In Vivo Diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Ex Vivo Optical Fecal Analysis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an idiopathic intestinal inflammatory disease, whose etiology is intimately related to the overproduction of hypochlorous acid (HClO). Optical monitoring of HClO in the living body favors real-time diagnosis of inflammatory diseases. However, HClO-activated near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes with rapid response and high inflammatory cell uptake are still lacking. Herein, we report an activatable acceptor–π–acceptor (A–π–A)-type NIR fluorescent probe ( Cy-DM ) bearing two d -mannosamine groups for the sensitive detection of HClO in early IBD and stool testing. Once reacted with HClO, nonfluorescent Cy-DM could be turned on within 2 s by generating a donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) structure due to the enhanced intramolecular charge transfer mechanism, showing intense NIR fluorescence emission at 700 nm and a large Stokes shift of 115 nm. Moreover, it was able to sensitively and selectively image exogenous and endogenous HClO in the lysosomes of living cells with a detection limit of 0.84 μM. More importantly, because of the d -mannosamine modification, Cy-DM was efficiently taken up by inflammatory cells in the intestine after intravenous administration, allowing noninvasive visualization of endogenous HClO in a lipopolysaccharide-induced IBD mouse model with a high fluorescence contrast of 6.8/1. In addition, water-soluble Cy-DM has also been successfully applied in ex vivo optical fecal analysis, exhibiting a 3.4-fold higher fluorescence intensity in the feces excreted by IBD mice. We believe that Cy-DM is promising as an invaluable tool for rapid diagnosis of HClO-related diseases as well as stool testing.