A hepatic-targeting NIR fluorescent probe simultaneously unlocked by BChE and high viscosity in diabetes mellitus

In this work, a hepatic-targeting NIR probe WC-1 was developed. The fluorescence of WC-1 was simultaneously unlocked by BChE and high viscosity, in which BChE hydrolyzes WC-1 to form WC-1-OH, activating the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) process, and the rotation of WC-1-OH is hindered by high viscosity, suppressing the twisted intramolecular charge-transfer (TICT) process, thereby achieving synergistic fluorescence enhancement. WC-1 exhibited good sensitivity and selectivity for BChE and viscosity. Under the recognition mediated by the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR), which is overexpressed in hepatocytes, WC-1 exhibited favorable hepatic-targeting potential. The fluorescence intensity of WC-1 responsive to BChE and viscosity is positively correlated with liver histopathology. Through the imaging of BChE and viscosity in the liver, WC-1 can real-time-monitor physiology, pathology, and the therapeutic progression of diabetes mellitus (DM), which provides reliable guidance for the diagnosis and the early intervention of diabetes mellitus.