Highly Selective Two-Photon Fluorescent Probe for Ratiometric Sensing and Imaging Cysteine in Mitochondria

Weifen Niu, Lei Guo, Yinhui Li*, Shaomin Shuang, Chuan Dong*, Man Shing Wong*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

194 Citations (Scopus)
29 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A novel ratiometric mitochondrial cysteine (Cys)-selective two-photon fluorescence probe has been developed on the basis of a merocyanine as the fluorophore and an acrylate moiety as the biothiol reaction site. The biocompatible and photostable acrylate-functionalized merocyanine probe shows not only a mitochondria-targeting property but also highly selective detection and monitoring of Cys over other biothiols such as homocysteine (Hcy) and glutathione (GSH) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in live cells. In addition, this probe exhibits ratiometric fluorescence emission characteristics (F518/F452), which are linearly proportional to Cys concentrations in the range of 0.5-40μM. More importantly, the probe and its released fluorophore, merocyanine, exhibit strong two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) with two-photon action cross-section (σmax) of 65.2 GM at 740 nm and 72.6 GM at 760 nm in aqueous medium, respectively, which is highly desirable for high contrast and brightness ratiometric two-photon fluorescence imaging of the living samples. The probe has been successfully applied to ratiometrically image and detect mitochondrial Cys in live cells and intact tissues down to a depth of 150μm by two-photon fluorescence microscopy. Thus, this ratiometric two-photon fluorescent probe is practically useful for an investigation of Cys in living biological systems.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1908-1914
Number of pages7
JournalAnalytical Chemistry
Volume88
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Feb 2016

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Analytical Chemistry

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