Aggregation-induced emission materials for protein fibrils imaging.

Protein fibrillation is linked to many devastating diseases including neurodegenerative disorders. Fluorescence probes play a significant role in the detection of amyloid aggregates, monitoring amyloid kinetics, and in the development of amyloid inhibitors. Despite the considerable progress in this area, the mechanism of amyloid fibril formation in vivo is not completely understood. Recent studies in amyloidosis indicate that oligomers and prefibrillar species are more cytotoxic than the fibrils. Hence, early diagnosis of fibrillation has high therapeutical relevance. The gold standard for amyloid staining is thioflavin-T and its major drawbacks are aggregation caused quenching and inability in the detection of oligomers. New amyloid staining probes with novel properties are highly desirable as they can give valuable insights into the complicated process and can replace conventional probes. Aggregation-induced emission probes (AIE-probes) with desirable features are promising candidates in protein fibrils imaging. AIE probes in staining different amyloid fibrils, monitoring amyloid kinetics, and early-stage conformers are reported. Other remarkable features are they can be modified as NIR probes, multifunctional probes, theranostic probes, and super-resolution imaging probes. We aim to provide a broad perspective on the progress attained with AIE probes in protein fibrils imaging and thereby emphasizing the scope of these smart probes in translative research.