Polarity-Tuned Lipid Droplet-Specific Probe for Heart Failure Imaging

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Cardiovascular Biology
• Molecular Imaging

Background:

• Heart failure (HF) is a major cardiovascular disease with poor prognosis.
• Lipid droplet (LD) involvement in cardiovascular pathogenesis is increasingly recognized.
• Altered LD polarity disrupts lipid metabolism, contributing to HF development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To engineer and synthesize a novel polarity-sensitive probe for visualizing LD alterations in HF.
• To assess the probe's efficacy in detecting aberrant LD polarity in various HF models.
• To establish a tool for noninvasive monitoring of pathological lipid metabolism in HF.

Main Methods:

• Engineered and synthesized the BODIPY-based probe WT-X with a D-π-A framework.
• Evaluated WT-X for photostability, biocompatibility, and polarity selectivity.
• Applied WT-X to detect LD polarity changes in HF cardiomyocyte models, zebrafish, and mouse models.

Main Results:

• WT-X exhibited good photostability, biocompatibility, and high polarity selectivity.
• The probe successfully detected aberrant LD polarity alterations in HF models.
• Demonstrated sensitive visualization of pathological lipid metabolism in vivo.

Conclusions:

• WT-X is an effective tool for sensitive detection of aberrant LD polarity in HF.
• Facilitates noninvasive visualization of pathological lipid metabolism for precision HF management.
• Enables real-time monitoring of therapeutic efficacy and patient stratification in HF.