Porphyria
is a group of genetic photodermatoses that cause too
much porphyrin to accumulate in the blood, skin, and liver, resulting
in skin photosensitivity and damage, liver disease, or potential liver
failure. Conventional detection methods include high-performance liquid
chromatography and fluorescence spectrometry. However, these methods
usually require complicated pretreatment and time-consuming processes.
Therefore, efficient and fast detection of porphyria is urgently needed.
Herein, we develop a molecular afterglow reporter-based sensing scheme
for the detection of porphyrins in whole blood. The afterglow reporter
can respond to the production of singlet oxygen (1O2) of porphyrins after light excitation, and the detection
signals can be amplified through adjusting the amount of singlet oxygen
and afterglow reporter molecules. Moreover, without the use of a real-time
excitation source, afterglow signals can avoid the scattering and
autofluorescence interference in biological samples, thereby reducing
background noise. More importantly, we prove the applicability of
the afterglow reporter in the quantitative detection of porphyrins
in whole blood and demonstrate its great clinical potential.