Lipid droplets (LDs) are multifunctional organelles essential for lipid storage, metabolic regulation, and cellular homeostasis, and their dysregulation is closely associated with the onset and progression of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Sensitive and specific fluorescent imaging of LDs dynamics is crucial for elucidating MASLD pathogenesis and accelerating the development of effective therapeutics. Herein, we report near-infrared fluorescent carbon dots (NIR-FCDs) with precise LDs-targeting capability and enabling high-contrast imaging of LDs distribution in AML-12 cells and MASLD mice model, exhibiting high brightness (QY: 8.6%), deep-tissue penetration (75 μm), excellent photostability (>3 h continuous irradiation), and superior signal-to-background (SBR = 26). Leveraging these properties, NIR-FCDs was applied for visualizing pathological lipid accumulation in MASLD mice models and demonstrated their utility in a drug-screening platform successfully. This work developed a robust NIR-FCDs for LDs-specific imaging and highlighted its potential to advance mechanistic studies and therapeutic discovery in metabolic liver diseases.
Cheng et al. (Fri,) studied this question.