in vivo imaging and detection of nitroreductase in zebrafish by a new near-infrared fluorescence off–on probe

A new near-infrared fluorescence off–on probe is developed and applied to fluorescence imaging of nitroreductase in zebrafish in vivo. The probe is readily prepared by connecting 4-nitrobenzene as a quenching and recognizing moiety to a stable hemicyanine skeleton that can be formed via the decomposition of IR 780. The fluorescence off–on response of the probe to nitroreductase is based on the enzyme-catalyzed reduction of the 4-nitrobenzene moiety, followed by the 1,6-rearrangement-elimination and the fluorophore release. Compared with the existing nitroreductase probes, the proposed probe exhibits superior analytical performance such as near-infrared fluorescence emission over 700nm as well as high selectivity and sensitivity, with a detection limit of 14ng/mL. More importantly, the probe has been successfully applied to visualize the distribution of nitroreductase in living zebrafish in vivo, revealing that nitroreductase might mainly exist in zebrafish yolk sac. The superior properties of the probe make it of great potential use in other biosystems and in vivo studies. •A new near-infrared fluorescence off–on probe is developed for nitroreductase assay.•The probe has an emission over 700nm with high selectivity and sensitivity.•The probe is used to image the distribution of nitroreductase in zebrafish in vivo.•It is revealed that nitroreductase may mainly exist in zebrafish yolk sac.