Lipid
droplets (LDs) are intracellular lipid-rich organelles, which
not only serve as neutral lipid reservoirs but also involve in many
physiological processes and are associated with a variety of metabolic
diseases and cancers. Long-term tracking of the state and behavior
of LDs is of great significance but challenging. The difficulty is
largely due to the lack of low cytotoxicity, high photobleaching resistance,
and long intracellular retention probes that are capable of long-term
tracking LDs. Herein, we report the discovery of two amphiphilic LD-targeting
carbon nanoparticles (CNPs, i.e., CPDs and CDs) prepared by one-step
room-temperature and hydrothermal methods. Their high lipid–water
partition coefficient (log P > 2.13) and
strong
positive solvatochromism property ensure the quality of LD imaging.
Especially, CDs exhibit favorable biocompatibility (2 mg mL–1, cell viability >90%), excellent photostability (after continuous
laser irradiation on a confocal microscope for 2 h, relative FL intensity
>85%), and superior intracellular retention ability, thereby enabling
long-term tracking of LDs in hepatocytes for up to six passages. Based
on the excellent long-term tracking ability, CDs are successfully
applied to observe autophagy in a typical catabolic process and to
evaluate the effect of a commonly used lipid-lowering drug atorvastatin
on hepatocyte lipid uptake.