narrow emission wavelength, and low penetration depth. Meanwhile, NIR fluorescent probes have reduced tissue absorbance, high photostability, large Stokes shift,
and long emission wavelengths, which make them highly suitable for noninvasive
in vivo imaging of specific target. Interestingly, a novel activatable imaging pre-profluorescent probe is being researched using a concept of “AND-type logic gate.”
That is the probe emits fluorescent signal only after being consecutively converted
by two different enzymes and allegedly it’s of great possibility of increased precision
in the assay of β-gal. In this paper, we summarized diverse selective fluorescent
probes targeting β-gal, all of which have their own superiority, yet there is inferiority
holding back their application or some of them still remain to be further studied.
Nevertheless, it’s promising and thriving that fluorescent probes targeting β-gal
would be put into application not only in molecular imaging but also in drug delivery
systems, location of disease, and so on.
Acknowledgments We are grateful for the financial supports from the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (81971678, 81671756), Key Research Project of Science and Technology
Foundation of Hunan Province (2017SK2093 and 2019SK2211), Key Research Project of Science
and Technology Foundation of Changsha (kq1801063), and Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities of Central South University (2018zzts041, 2018dcyj067).
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest: There are no conflicts to declare.
Ethical Approval: There is no ethical approval to declare.
Informed Consent: There is no informed consent to declare.
References
1. Alam J, Cook JL (1990) Reporter genes: application to the study of mammalian gene transcription. Anal Biochem 188(2):245
2. Chatterjee SK, Bhattacharya M, Barlow JJ (1979) Glycosyltransferase and glycosidase activities in ovarian cancer patients. Cancer Res 39(6):1943
3. Salehi S, Eckley L, Sawyer GJ et al (2009) Intestinal lactase as an autologous beta-galactosidase
reporter gene for in vivo gene expression studies. Hum Gene Ther 20(1):21
4. Kodibagkar VD, Yu J, Liu L et al (2006) Imaging β-galactosidase activity using
19
F chemical
shift imaging of LacZ gene-reporter molecule 2-fluoro-4-nitrophenol-β-d-galactopyranoside.
Magn Reson Imaging 24(7):959
5. Van Dort ME, Lee KC, Hamilton CA et al (2008) Radiosynthesis and evaluation of 5-[125i]
iodoindol-3-yl-β-d-galactopyranoside ([125i]IBDG) as a β-galactosidase imaging radioligand.
Mol Imaging 7(4):187
6. Celen S, Deroose C, De Groot T et al (2008) Synthesis and evaluation of F-18- and
C-11-labeled phenyl-galactopyranosides as potential probes for in vivo visualization of LacZ
gene expression using positron emission tomography. Bioconjug Chem 19(2):441
7. Yamamoto A, Adachi S, Kawamura S et al (1974) Localized β-galactosidase deficiency. Arch
Intern Med 134(4):627
8. Zhang YZ, Naleway JJ, Larison KD et al (1991) Detecting lacZ gene expression in living cells
with new lipophilic, fluorogenic beta-galactosidase substrates. FASEB J 5(15):3108
Fluorescent Probes for Diagnostics of β-Galactosidase: From Micro to Macro
199
and long emission wavelengths, which make them highly suitable for noninvasive
in vivo imaging of specific target. Interestingly, a novel activatable imaging pre-profluorescent probe is being researched using a concept of “AND-type logic gate.”
That is the probe emits fluorescent signal only after being consecutively converted
by two different enzymes and allegedly it’s of great possibility of increased precision
in the assay of β-gal. In this paper, we summarized diverse selective fluorescent
probes targeting β-gal, all of which have their own superiority, yet there is inferiority
holding back their application or some of them still remain to be further studied.
Nevertheless, it’s promising and thriving that fluorescent probes targeting β-gal
would be put into application not only in molecular imaging but also in drug delivery
systems, location of disease, and so on.
Acknowledgments We are grateful for the financial supports from the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (81971678, 81671756), Key Research Project of Science and Technology
Foundation of Hunan Province (2017SK2093 and 2019SK2211), Key Research Project of Science
and Technology Foundation of Changsha (kq1801063), and Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities of Central South University (2018zzts041, 2018dcyj067).
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest: There are no conflicts to declare.
Ethical Approval: There is no ethical approval to declare.
Informed Consent: There is no informed consent to declare.
References
1. Alam J, Cook JL (1990) Reporter genes: application to the study of mammalian gene transcription. Anal Biochem 188(2):245
2. Chatterjee SK, Bhattacharya M, Barlow JJ (1979) Glycosyltransferase and glycosidase activities in ovarian cancer patients. Cancer Res 39(6):1943
3. Salehi S, Eckley L, Sawyer GJ et al (2009) Intestinal lactase as an autologous beta-galactosidase
reporter gene for in vivo gene expression studies. Hum Gene Ther 20(1):21
4. Kodibagkar VD, Yu J, Liu L et al (2006) Imaging β-galactosidase activity using
19
F chemical
shift imaging of LacZ gene-reporter molecule 2-fluoro-4-nitrophenol-β-d-galactopyranoside.
Magn Reson Imaging 24(7):959
5. Van Dort ME, Lee KC, Hamilton CA et al (2008) Radiosynthesis and evaluation of 5-[125i]
iodoindol-3-yl-β-d-galactopyranoside ([125i]IBDG) as a β-galactosidase imaging radioligand.
Mol Imaging 7(4):187
6. Celen S, Deroose C, De Groot T et al (2008) Synthesis and evaluation of F-18- and
C-11-labeled phenyl-galactopyranosides as potential probes for in vivo visualization of LacZ
gene expression using positron emission tomography. Bioconjug Chem 19(2):441
7. Yamamoto A, Adachi S, Kawamura S et al (1974) Localized β-galactosidase deficiency. Arch
Intern Med 134(4):627
8. Zhang YZ, Naleway JJ, Larison KD et al (1991) Detecting lacZ gene expression in living cells
with new lipophilic, fluorogenic beta-galactosidase substrates. FASEB J 5(15):3108
Fluorescent Probes for Diagnostics of β-Galactosidase: From Micro to Macro
199