Development of water-soluble AIE-based wash-free Aβ probes superior to commercial ThT

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a typical neurodegenerative disease. [Formula: see text]-amyloid (A[Formula: see text] plaque is the most prominent pathological biomarker associated with the progression of AD. Conventional A[Formula: see text] probes, including commercial probe ThT, usually suffer from tedious washing procedures. Herein, novel AIE-active A[Formula: see text] probes with excellent water solubility, named DE-V1-PYC3 and DE-V1-PYOH, were developed for the detection and image of A[Formula: see text] without tedious washing procedures. Compared with commercial probe ThT, the AIE-active A[Formula: see text] probes exhibited better sensitivity and affinity to A[Formula: see text] aggregates. Moreover, for ThT, the washing procedures are essential to obtain high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) images of A[Formula: see text] plaques in AD brain tissue slices. DE-V1-PYC3 and DE-V1-PYOH can label A[Formula: see text] plaques in AD brain tissue slices with high SNR even without tedious washing procedures.