A self-assembled fluorescent probe for H2O2 detection in NAFLD diagnosis.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an epidemic metabolic disorder of the liver involving a constellation of pathological processes. There is accumulating evidence that oxidative stress is an influential mechanism leading to NAFLD. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a major ROS molecule involved in many biological processes in the human body and one of the primary triggers of oxidative stress. Consequently, the monitoring of alterations in H2O2 levels within organisms is imperative for research pertaining to NAFLD. Herein, we have tailored and synthesized CM-CN, a novel fluorescent probe for the detection of H2O2 without autofluorescence, which is capable of interacting with H2O2 and then spontaneously generating iminocoumarins with high red emissive fluorescence based on a cascade reaction. Furthermore, the probe demonstrated excellent performance, including a low detection limit (LOD = 44.362 nM) and a large Stokes shift (Δλ > 100 nm). In addition, it exhibited the capacity to monitor alterations in H2O2 levels in zebrafish and mouse models of NAFLD. These results illustrate the great potential of this probe as a transformative tool that could advance fundamental research in reactive oxygen species biology, especially in hepatic steatosis and oxidative stress-related diseases.