The
excessive expression of cholinesterases (ChEs) directly disturbs
the metabolism of acetylcholine (ACh), causing disordering neurotransmission
in the brain or even Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. However,
the variation of ChEs including acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase
(BChE) in brain glioma has not yet been investigated. Therefore, the
development of a suitable method for in situ imaging ChEs in brain
tissues to understand the physiological functions of ChEs in depth
is very important. Herein, a new near-infrared emission fluorescent
probe (IPAN) for visualization of ChE activity was developed. IPAN exhibits ultrafast response to ChEs, low detection limit
for AChE (0.127 U/mL) and BChE (0.0117 U/mL), and a large Stokes shift
with near-infrared emission. Based on these excellent attributes,
the IPAN was effectively utilized for imaging the fluctuations
of ChE activity in the apoptosis cells and zebrafish. Notably, by
utilizing the unique probe IPAN, we observed a significant
enhancement of ChE activity in the tumor cells and brain glioma, for
the first time. We believe that this interesting finding could provide
a powerful guidance for tumor resection in the future.
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