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Imaging of Lipid Droplets in Living Cells and Mice with Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease via a Galactose-Modified Supramolecular Near-Infrared Fluorescent Glycoprobe

  • Han-Min Wang
  • , Lei Dong
  • , Qiu-Lian Hao
  • , Lu-Lu Sun
  • , Xin-Rong Li
  • , Wei-Yuan Yu
  • , Ming-Ye Tang
  • , Jin Gong
  • , Yi Zang
  • , Jia Li
  • , Tony James
  • , Xiao-Peng He
  • , Hai Hao Han
  • Bohai Rim Advanced Research Institute for Drug Discovery
  • Molecular Imaging Center, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, P. R. China
  • Shandong Second Medical University
  • Shandong Laboratory of Yantai Drug Discovery
  • University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Nantong University
  • Lingang Laboratory
  • Henan Normal University
  • East China University of Science and Technology
  • Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has become an important liver disease worldwide due to the rising rate of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic disorders. The early detection of MASLD is vital to slow progression to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma; yet, existing research tools for studying hepatic steatosis are limited in terms of their effectiveness and invasiveness. Herein, a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe, TCF-FBN, for the selective imaging of lipid droplets (LDs) in MASLD is reported. TCF-FBN exhibits bright NIR fluorescence and a large Stokes shift in nonpolar solvents, and minimal fluorescence in polar solvents, making it suitable for biological imaging. The probe is bound to bovine serum albumin (BSA) through supramolecular forces to enhance its biocompatibility, and the resulting TCF-FBN@BSA ensemble is used for fluorescence imaging of LDs generated in hepatocytes. Notably, the modification of TCF-FBN@BSA with galactosyl ligands producing TCF-FBN@Gal-BSA enables the targeted imaging of the liver of mice with MASLD via asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR)-mediated biorecognition.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere25887
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume36
Issue number3
Early online date24 Jul 2025
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Jan 2026

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in the sup-plementary material of this article

Funding

H.-M.W. and L.D. contributed equally to this work. The authors are grateful to the Key R&D Program of Shandong Province, China (No. 2024CXPT028), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22377135, 22107029, 22207086 and 92253306), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Nos. ZR2022QH060 and ZR2024QC378), the Taishan Scholars Program (Nos. tsqn202312305 and tstp0648), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by Chinese Chemical Society, the Fundamental Research Projects of Science & Technology Innovation and development Plan in Yantai City (No. 2023JCYJ059), the Shandong Laboratory Program (SYS202205), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant No. 24DX1400200), the International Cooperation Program of Shanghai Science and Technology (No. 23490711600), the Shanghai Xuhui District Hospital Local Cooperation Project (23XHYD-20), the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology (KF 2402), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (222201717003), the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B16017), the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology (KF 2402), the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China; the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory on signaling Regulation and Targeting Therapy of Liver Cancer (Naval Medical University) (Grant. 2023-MEKLLC-MS/ZD-00*). TDJ wishes to thank the University of Bath and the Open Research Fund of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University (2020ZD01) for support. Scheme and Table of Contents were partly created using figures provided by Servier Medical Art (https://smart.servier.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0. H.‐M.W. and L.D. contributed equally to this work. The authors are grateful to the Key R&D Program of Shandong Province, China (No. 2024CXPT028), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22377135, 22107029, 22207086 and 92253306), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Nos. ZR2022QH060 and ZR2024QC378), the Taishan Scholars Program (Nos. tsqn202312305 and tstp0648), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by Chinese Chemical Society, the Fundamental Research Projects of Science & Technology Innovation and development Plan in Yantai City (No. 2023JCYJ059), the Shandong Laboratory Program (SYS202205), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant No. 24DX1400200), the International Cooperation Program of Shanghai Science and Technology (No. 23490711600), the Shanghai Xuhui District Hospital Local Cooperation Project (23XHYD‐20), the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology (KF 2402), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (222201717003), the Programme of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B16017), the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology (KF 2402), the Open Funding Project of the State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China; the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory on signaling Regulation and Targeting Therapy of Liver Cancer (Naval Medical University) (Grant. 2023‐MEKLLC‐MS/ZD‐00*). TDJ wishes to thank the University of Bath and the Open Research Fund of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University (2020ZD01) for support. Scheme and Table of Contents were partly created using figures provided by Servier Medical Art ( https://smart.servier.com/ ), licensed under CC BY 4.0.

FundersFunder number
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory on signaling Regulation and Targeting Therapy of Liver Cancer
State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering
University of Bath
Chinese Chemical Society
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals
Shanghai Xuhui District Hospital
Project 211B16017
Servier Medical ArtCC BY 4.0
Shandong Laboratory ProgramSYS202205
Key Technology Research and Development Program of Shandong Province2024CXPT028
Dalian University of TechnologyKF 2402
Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality24DX1400200
Henan Normal University2020ZD01
National Natural Science Foundation of China22107029, 22207086, 22377135, 92253306
Taishan Scholar Project of Shandong Provincetsqn202312305, tstp0648
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities222201717003
Shanghai Xuhui District Hospital Local Cooperation Project23XHYD‐20
Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University410082
Naval Medical University2023‐MEKLLC‐MS/ZD‐00*
Fundamental Research Projects of Science & Technology Innovation and development Plan in Yantai City2023JCYJ059
International Science and Technology Cooperation Programme23490711600
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong ProvinceZR2024QC378, ZR2022QH060

    UN SDGs

    This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

    1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
      SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

    Keywords

    • fluorescent glycoprobe
    • lipid droplets
    • liver targeting
    • metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)
    • near-infrared

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
    • General Chemistry
    • Biomaterials
    • General Materials Science
    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Electrochemistry

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