A novel NIR LDs-targeted fluorescent probe to image HClO and polarity during ferroptosis

Visualizing the fluctuation of HClO and the polarity of LDs is of extraordinary importance for researchers to acquire more details about ferroptosis. However, currently, there is no NIR fluorescent probe to reach the goal of monitoring HClO and the polarity of LDs during ferroptosis. Herein, a novel NIR LDs-targeted fluorescence probe BA-PTZ was designed to simultaneously visualize intracellular HClO and polarity of LDs during ferroptosis. In the spectral test, only HClO could induce the fluorescence to enhance for about 100-fold within 20 s, and the LOD of BA-PTZ was 37 nM. Moreover, BA-PTZ showed high LDs staining specificity (PCC = 0.9091) and could respond to polarity fluctuations of cells in near-infrared emission. The amphiphilic structure of BA-PTZ is supposed to be the key of efficiently staining LDs. Given these advantages, BA-PTZ was successfully used in visualizing HClO and polarity during ferroptosis in HeLa cells for the first time. Particularly, a new method of designing NIR LDs-targeted probes was proposed initially, offering a new insight to the growth of LDs fluorescent probes.