Department of Radiology, Biophysics, Bio-X, Cancer Biology, and Molecular Imaging Programs at Stanford, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, California 94305-5344, USA.
This communication describes a design of cell-permeable near-infrared fluorogenic substrates for imaging beta-lactamase expression in living mammalian cells. This design is based on fluorescence energy transfer resonance and utilizes a peracetylated d-glucosamine to facilitate the transport of the near-infrared probe across cell membranes. This new type of fluorogenic probe may also be applied to image gene expression in living animals.