Ma_2020_Anal.Chem_92_13405

The excessive expression of cholinesterases (ChEs) directly disturbs the metabolism of acetylcholine (ACh), causing disor-dering neurotransmission in the brain or even Alzheimer's disease and cancer. However, the variation of ChEs including ce-tylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase in brain glioma has not yet been investigated. Therefore, the development of a suitable method for in situ imaging ChEs in brain tissue to understand the physiological functions of ChEs in depth is very important. Herein, a new near-infrared emission fluorescent probe (IPAN) for visualization of ChEs activity was developed. IPAN exihibits ultrafast response to ChEs, low detection limit for AChE (0.127 U/mL) and BChE (0.0117 U/mL) as well as a large Stokes shift with near-infrared emission. Based on these excellent attributes, the IPAN was effectively utilized for im-aging the fluctuations of ChEs activity in the apoptosis cells and zebrafish. Notably, by utilizing the unique probe IPAN, we observed a significant enhancement of ChEs activity in the tumor cells and brain glioma, for the first time. We believe that this interesting finding could provide a powerful guidance for tumor resection in the future.