Rational construction of a novel probe for the rapid detection of butyrylcholinesterase stress changes in apoptotic cells

The occurrence of numerous neurodegenerative diseases is associated with abnormal levels of butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). The development of a probe for the real-time detection of butyrylcholinesterase in vivo and in vitro is beneficial for the diagnosis of related diseases. In this study, we designed and synthesized a novel fluorescent probe CnN to detect BChE activity. The probe CnN has numerous excellent properties for the real-time visualization of BChE with an ultrafast response (5 min), low detection limit (LOD of 0.07969 U mL−1) and good specificity. CnN also has a large Stokes shift (113 nm) and low cytotoxicity. Based on the excellent performance of CnN, we performed the endogenous imaging of apoptosis in LO2 cells, which can be used to assess stress changes in butyrylcholinesterase in apoptotic cells.