Dual-functional AIE fluorescent probes for imaging β-amyloid plaques and lipid droplets

Small-molecule fluorescence-based probes for interrogating major organ diseases

“…3). 10 FB consists of a donor (dimethylamine group)-p-acceptor (cyano group) structure for targeting Ab plaques and a hydroxyethyl structure to adjust the lipophilicity and to enhance the binding affinity for Ab plaques. Due to the hydrophobic (lipophilic) nature of this probe, lipid droplets can be targeted by the principle of ''like dissolves like''.…”

Fundamentals and exploration of aggregation-induced emission molecules for amyloid protein aggregation

“…(d) FB displays specific binding to Ab aggregates within the range of 0-10 mM. (Reprinted with permission, 26 Copyright r 2020 Elsevier B.V.) (e) AggFluor (P1-P18) compounds exhibit differential turn-on fluorescence when bound to SOD1-A4V-Halo monomers (0 h), oligomers (8 h), and fibrils (24 h). (Reprinted with permission, 35 Copyright r 2020 American Chemical Society.)…”

“…48 In contrast to single-target amyloid probes, multi-target (multimodal) amyloid probes for detecting different biomarkers of the same or different amyloid diseases have several fundamental and technical advantages for early diagnosis and innovative therapeutics of these diseases. 66 A dual-functional AIE fluorescent probe named FB 26 was designed and synthesized by attaching a hydroxyethyl group to the nitrogen atom of FA, 67 which possessed a classical donor-p-acceptor (D-p-A) architecture for AIE characteristics. The resultant FB exhibited not only high selectivity and binding affinity to Ab aggregates with a detection limit as low as 26.9 nM (Fig.…”

“…Thus, it is equally important for the structural design of new AIE molecules and further engineering/ optimization of existing AIE molecules for studying amyloid aggregation, toxicity, inhibition, sensing, and imaging. Different from several comprehensive reviews regarding AIE molecules for fluorescent sensors, 19 bioprobes for biomedicine, [20][21][22][23][24] sugar-based materials, 25 composite materials, 26 and photodynamic therapy, 27 this outlook mainly aims to provide the first summary of the developments and applications of AIE molecules for amyloid proteins, with a specific emphasis on the four types of AIE molecules and their applications for Ab (associated with AD), insulin (associated with T2D), and a-synuclein (associated with PD) aggregates, including the detection, inhibition/promotion, and imaging of amyloid protein aggregates at the molecular, cellular, and animal levels. We acknowledge these early and pioneering AIE studies on amyloids, discuss joint working mechanisms for both AIE and amyloid aggregation, and give some perspectives of current challenges and future direction of AIE-amyloid systems, all of which will hopefully inspire more and continuous research efforts for exploring the full potentials of AIE in the biomedical field.…”

Dual functional amphiphilic sugar-coated AIE-active fluorescent organic nanoparticles for the monitoring and inhibition of insulin amyloid fibrillation based on carbohydrate–protein interactions

“…25 So far, several studies associated with AIE have been reported on the detection of amyloid fibrils including insulin, Ab 42 and lysozyme. 17,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] Due to their highly emissive properties in supramolecular assembly and the supramolecular assembly of amyloid monomers into fibrils, these kinds of probes are quite suitable for fibril detection. However, there were a few fluorescent probes that can monitor the content of fibril aggregates and also had inhibition effects on protein amyloidosis.…”