Sensing and imaging of PPi using lanthanide-based second near-infrared luminescent probes

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. B, Materials for biology and medicine Vol. 1; no. 7; pp. 155 - 162
• Main Authors: Su, Yaoquan, Ye, Lingyue, Gu, Jiayu, Zhao, Lingzhi, Zhou, Yunyun, Peng, Juanjuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 16.02.2022
• ISSN: 2050-750X; 2050-7518
• DOI: 10.1039/d1tb02579a

Inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), as a biologically active anion, is closely related to physiological activities and several pathological changes. Here, we reported a luminescent nanoprobe for the detection and imaging of PPi in vivo based on lanthanide nanoparticles with luminescence at the second near-infrared window modified by the tannic acid and Fe 3+ complex. A light-harvesting complex was formed after the coordination of colorless tannic acid with Fe 3+ and the luminescence of the nanoparticles was quenched through the inner-filter effect. In the presence of PPi, the complex was decomposed due to the stronger coordination affinity of PPi to Fe 3+ ; thus the luminescence of the nanoprobe was recovered. The nanoprobe manifested good linearity with a low detection limit of 3.36 μM. Importantly, in the in vivo study simulating the calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease, the nanoprobe with the second near-infrared luminescence achieved the imaging of the injected PPi at the paw of the mice at a dose of 0.25 mg kg −1 . The reported nanoprobe can serve as a convenient tool for the in vivo imaging of PPi and the diagnosis of PPi-related diseases. A second near-infrared luminescent probe for the detection and imaging of pyrophosphate in vivo was developed.