Pathology-Responsive Nanoprobes for NIR-II Imaging of Acute Kidney Injury

  • Anal Chem. 2026 May 26;98(20):15053-15065. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6c00589.
Wuyue Su  1  2  3 ,  Wenjing Bai  2  3  4 ,  Shuangyan Song  2  3  5 ,  Yongkuan Suo  3 ,  Qian Hu  1 ,  Wumei Wang  1  6 ,  Pengfei Zhang  7 ,  Chune Dong  1 ,  Yuling Xiao  1  2  3 ,  Zhen Cheng  2  3 ,  Xiaodong Zeng  1  2  3 ,  Xuechuan Hong  1  8  5
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Radiology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
  • 2. Bohai Rim Advanced Research Institute for Drug Discovery, Shandong Laboratory of Yantai Drug Discovery, Yantai 264117, China.
  • 3. State Key Laboratory of Drug Research & Center of Pharmaceutics, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
  • 4. School of Pharmacy, Key Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology and Drug Evaluation (Yantai University), Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Drug Delivery System and Biotech Drugs in Universities of Shandong, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China.
  • 5. National Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Formulations for Overcoming Delivery Barriers, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China.
  • 6. Shenzhen Institute of Wuhan University, Shenzhen 518057, China.
  • 7. Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nanomedicine, CAS-HK Joint Lab of Biomaterials, CAS Key Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging Science and System, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Metabolic Health, Shenzhen Metabolism and Reproductive Targeted Delivery Proof-of-Concept Center, CAS Key Lab for Health Informatics, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
  • 8. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery, Ministry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China.
PMID: 42102103 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.6c00589
Abstract

Acute kidney injury (AKI), a prevalent life-threatening syndrome triggered by drug-induced nephrotoxicity, ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), and surgical complications, rapidly progresses to chronic kidney disease without early intervention, escalating morbidity, and mortality. In this study, we synthesized a fluorescent probe CH-4T and leveraged disease-induced remodeling of the renal nano-bio interface during AKI to engineer a series of pathology-responsive nanoprobes (CH-4T@NP1-4). Systematic screening identified CH-4T@NP3 as optimal, exhibiting superior optical performance, stability, biocompatibility, and pathology-responsive renal accumulation. In cisplatin-AKI and IRI models, CH-4T@NP3 enabled high-sensitivity, real-time NIR-II imaging, with fluorescence signals quantitatively correlating to serum creatinine (Scr), blood urea nitrogen, kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1), histopathology (H&E, TUNEL), and injury severity. It dynamically monitored N-acetylcysteine (NAC) therapy, aligning with renal recovery and reducing Apoptosis with enhanced penetration and signal-to-noise ratio, offering a noninvasive platform for early AKI diagnosis, severity assessment, and therapeutic evaluation.

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