<b>Oxygen-Embedded Pentacene Based Near-Infrared Chemiluminescent Nanoprobe for Highly Selective and Sensitive Visualization of Peroxynitrite In Vivo</b>
Bingzhe Wang, Youjuan Wang, Yanpei Wang, Yan Zhao, Chan Yang, Zebing Zeng, Shuangyan Huan, Guosheng Song, Xiaobing Zhang
Abstract
Peroxynitrite (ONOO–) is involved in neurodegenerative, inflammatory, cardiovascular disorders, cancers, and other pathological progress. However, current imaging methods for sensing ONOO– usually suffer from high background/autofluorescence for fluorescent probes and poor selectivity/short emission wavelength for chemiluminescent probes. Herein, we present a novel chemiluminescent molecule (oxygen-embedded quinoidal pentacene) responsive to ONOO– for the first time, on the basis of which we rationally construct a near-infrared nanoprobe for detecting ONOO– via chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer (CRET) mechanism. Notably, our nanoprobe exhibits good selectivity, ultrahigh sensitivity (nanomole level), low background noise, fast response, and high water solubility. Moreover, the near-infrared emission from CRET offers higher tissue penetration of the chemiluminescent signal. Finally, our nanoprobe is further successfully applied to detecting endogenous ONOO– in mice with abdominal inflammation, drug-induced hepatotoxicity, or tumor models in vivo. In summary, the self-luminescing nanoprobes can act as an alternative visualizable tool for illuminating the mechanism of ONOO– involved in the specific pathological process.