Lipid droplet polarity decreases during the pathology of muscle injury as revealed by a polarity sensitive sensor

Abstract Revealing the relationship between lipid droplets (LDs)polarity and disease is indispensable in clinicopathological diagnosis. So far, muscle injury is often ignored as it is not life-threatening as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, making the exploration of the internal relationship between muscle injury and LDs polarity a gray area. Herein, a fluorescent probe (CCB) with powerful polar-sensitive as well as precise LDs targeting was designed for visualizing the LDs polarity in the pathology of muscle injury. By means of the probe CCB, the identification of cancer cells and the monitoring of LDs polarity changes in dysfunctional cells were successfully realized. Furthermore, the penetration ability of CCB in tissues of mice was tested to verify the applicability of the probe in organisms. Importantly, by CCB, the relationship between muscle damage and LDs polarity was explored, revealing that muscle damage caused a significant decrease in LDs polarity accompanied by a significant increase in fluorescence. Most importantly, it is the first time to reveal the relationship between muscle damage and LDs polarity. Therefore, the probe CCB will be a powerful monitoring platform for diagnosing related diseases caused by abnormal LDs polarity.