Development of "smart" noninvasive bioimaging probes for trapping specific enzyme activities is highly desirable for cancer therapy in vivo. Given that β-galactosidase (β-gal) is an important biomarker for cell senescence and primary ovarian cancers, we design an enzyme-activatable ratiometric near-infrared (NIR) probe (DCM-βgal) for the real-time fluorescent quantification and trapping of β-gal activity in vivo and in situ. DCM-βgal manifests significantly ratiometric and turn-on NIR fluorescent signals simultaneously in response to β-gal concentration, which makes it favorable for monitoring dynamic β-gal activity in vivo with self-calibration in fluorescent mode. We exemplify DCM-βgal for the ratiometric tracking of endogenously overexpressed β-gal distribution in living 293T cells via the lacZ gene transfection method and OVCAR-3 cells, and further realize real-time in vivo bioimaging of β-gal activity in colorectal tumor-bearing nude mice. Advantages of our system include light-up ratiometric NIR fluorescence with large Stokes shift, high photostability, and pH independency under the physiological range, allowing for the in vivo real-time evaluation of β-gal activity at the tumor site with high-resolution three-dimensional bioimaging for the first time. Our work provides a potential tool for in vivo real-time tracking enzyme activity in preclinical applications.
Solar-driven reduction of CO , which converts inexhaustible solar energy into value-added fuels, has been recognized as a promising sustainable energy conversion technology. However, the overall conversion efficiency is significantly limited by the inefficient charge separation and sluggish interfacial reaction dynamics, which resulted from a lack of sufficient active sites. Herein, Bi O Cl superfine nanotubes with a bilayer thickness of the tube wall are designed to achieve structural distortion for the creation of surface oxygen defects, thus accelerating the carrier migration and facilitating CO activation. Without cocatalyst and sacrificing reagent, Bi O Cl nanotubes deliver high selectivity CO evolution rate of 48.6 μmol g h in water (16.8 times than of bulk Bi O Cl ), while maintaining stability even after 12 h of testing. This paves the way to design efficient photocatalysts with collaborative optimizing charge separation and CO activation towards CO photoreduction.
High‐entropy oxides (HEOs), a new concept of entropy stabilization, exhibit unique structures and fascinating properties, and are thus important class of materials with significant technological potential. However, the conventional high‐temperature synthesis techniques tend to afford micron‐scale HEOs with low surface area, and the catalytic activity of available HEOs is still far from satisfactory because of their limited exposed active sites and poor intrinsic activity. Here we report a low‐temperature plasma strategy for preparing defect‐rich HEOs nanosheets with high surface area, and for the first time employ them for 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) electrooxidation. Owing to the nanosheets structure, abundant oxygen vacancies, and high surface area, the quinary (FeCrCoNiCu)3O4 nanosheets deliver improved activity for HMF oxidation with lower onset potential and faster kinetics, outperforming that of HEOs prepared by high‐temperature method. Our method opens new opportunities for synthesizing nanostructured HEOs with great potential applications.
Development of fluorescent probes for on-site sensing and long-term tracking of specific biomarkers is particularly desirable for the early detection of diseases. However, available small-molecule probes tend to facilely diffuse across the cell membrane or remain at the activation site but always suffer from the aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect. Here we report an enzyme-activatable aggregationinduced emission (AIE) probe QM-bgal, which is composed of a hydrophilic b-galactosidase (b-gal)triggered galactose moiety and a hydrophobic AIE-active fluorophore QM-OH. The probe is virtually non-emissive in aqueous media, but when activated by b-gal, specific enzymatic turnover would liberate hydrophobic AIE luminogen (AIEgen) QM-OH, and then highly fluorescent nanoaggregates are in situ generated as a result of the AIE process, allowing for on-site sensing of endogenous b-gal activity in living cells. Notably, taking advantage of the improved intracellular retention of nanoaggregates, we further exemplify QM-bgal for long-term ($12 h) visualization of b-gal-overexpressing ovarian cancer cells with high fidelity, which is essential for biomedicine and diagnostics. Thus, this enzyme-activatable AIE probe not only is a potent tool for elucidating the roles of b-gal in biological systems, but also offers an enzyme-regulated liberation strategy to exploit multifunctional probes for preclinical applications.Scheme 1 Schematic illustration of an enzyme-regulated liberation strategy for on-site sensing and long-term tracking.Scheme 2 Enzyme-activatable probes for b-gal activity sensing.This journal is
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.