Aggregation-induced emission fluorescent probes for lipid droplets-specific bioimaging of cells and atherosclerosis plaques

Visualizing lipid droplets (LDs) using fluorescence imaging is highly desirable for the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerotic heart diseases. However, the imaging performance of the current commercial lipid probes is unsatisfactory. In this study, we prepared two probes (TTM and MeO-TTM) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties for LD imaging with efficiency. Interestingly, TTM and MeO-TTM showed low emissions in H2O but their emissions were significantly increased in oil. Moreover, TTM and MeO-TTM showed great biocompatibility and intracellular LDs would be specifically illuminated by these probes with good resistance to photobleaching. In addition, TTM and MeO-TTM also exhibited great imaging performance in studying the spatial distribution of LDs in mouse atherosclerotic plaques. This work not only provides a simple tool for studying atherosclerosis but also hopes to enhance the development of fluorescent probes for LDs-specific imaging applications.