title: Visible and Near-Infrared Dual-Emission Carbogenic Small Molecular Complex with High RNA Selectivity and Renal Clearance for Nucleolus and Tumor Imaging.
abstract: Fluorescence imaging requires bioselective, sensitive, nontoxic molecular probes to detect the precise location of lesions for fundamental research and clinical applications. Typical inorganic semiconductor nanomaterials with large sizes (>10 nm) can offer high-quality fluorescence imaging due to their fascinating optical properties but are limited to low selectivity as well as slow clearance pathway. We here report an N- and O-rich carbogenic small molecular complex (SMC, MW < 1000 Da) that exhibits high quantum yield (up to 80%), nucleic acid-binding enhanced excitation-dependent fluorescence (EDF), and a near-infrared (NIR) emission peaked at 850 nm with an ultralarge Stokes shift (∼500 nm). SMCs show strong rRNA affinity, and the resulting EDF enhancement allows multicolor visualization of nucleoli in cells for clear statistics. Furthermore, SMCs can be efficiently accumulated in tumor in vivo after injection into tumor-bearing mice. The NIR emission affords high signal/noise ratio imaging for delineating the true extent of tumor. Importantly, about 80% of injected SMCs can be rapidly excreted from the body in 24 h. No appreciable toxicological responses were observed up to 30 days by hematological, biochemical, and pathological examinations. SMCs have great potential as a promising nucleolus- and tumor-specific agent for medical diagnoses and biomedical research.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Zhencai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Tiantian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, School of Science, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300354, China.
authors.forename: Junying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Yawei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Yanzhuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University , No. 220, Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Yongqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Shengjie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, School of Science, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300354, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Center for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005453:Fluorescence; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D012313:RNA
keywords: RNA selectivity; excitation-dependent fluorescence; small molecule; target-specific imaging; ultralarge Stokes shift