Dual-factor triggered fluorogenic nanoprobe for ultrahigh contrast and subdiffraction fluorescence imaging

Ultrahigh contrast fluorescence molecular imaging has long been pursued over the past few decades from basic sciences to clinics. Although new classes of near-infrared (NIR) molecular probes are emerging, the requirement of fluorophores with high quantum yield, high signal to noise (S/N) ratio, and being activatable to microenvironment changes can hardly be fulfilled. In this study, a new NIR dye embedded fluorogenic nanoprobe (fg-nanoprobe) was developed for ultrahigh contrast in vitro and in vivo imaging with negligible background interference. The achieved S/N ratio was found to be attributed to the synergistic effects of the cellular compartmental triggered fluorogenicity and pH tunable fluorescence on/off character. In addition, this constructed fluorogenic nanoprobe could be coupled with image processing method for super-resolution subdiffraction imaging. The developed fg-nanoprobe integrated photophysical merits of the synthesized NIR fluorophore and advantages of engineered nanoparticle for enhanced fluorescence molecular imaging. This probe may open another avenue for ultrahigh contrast fluorescence molecular imaging in the future.