Monitoring the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is hindered by a lack of suitable non-invasive imaging methods. Here, we show that the endogenous pigment lipofuscin displays strong near-infrared and shortwave-infrared fluorescence when excited at 808 nm, enabling label-free imaging of liver injury in mice and the discrimination of pathological processes from normal liver processes with high specificity and sensitivity. We also show that the near-infrared and shortwave-infrared fluorescence of lipofuscin can be used to monitor the progression and regression of liver necroinflammation and fibrosis in mouse models of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and advanced fibrosis, as well as to detect non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and cirrhosis in biopsied samples of human liver tissue.

由于缺乏合适的非侵入性成像方法，监测非酒精性脂肪肝的进展受到阻碍。在这里，我们发现内源性色素脂褐素在 808 nm 激发时表现出强烈的近红外和短波红外荧光，从而能够对小鼠肝损伤进行无标记成像，并以高特异性和灵敏度区分病理过程与正常肝脏过程。我们还表明，脂褐素的近红外和短波红外荧光可用于监测非酒精性脂肪肝和晚期纤维化小鼠模型中肝脏坏死性炎症和纤维化的进展和消退，以及检测非酒精性脂肪肝和晚期纤维化的进展和消退。人体肝组织活检样本中的酒精性脂肪性肝炎和肝硬化。