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A Novel Water-soluble Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe Based on FRET for Sensing Lysosomal pH

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Abstract

A new ratiometric fluorescent probe based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) for sensing lysosomal pH has been developed. The probe (RMPM) was composed of imidazo[1,5-α]pyridine quaternary ammonium salt fluorophore as the FRET donor and the rhodamine moiety as the FRET acceptor. It’s the first time to report that imidazo[1,5-α]pyridine quaternary ammonium salt acts as the FRET donor. The ratio of fluorescence intensity of the probe at two wavelengths (I424/I581) changed significantly and responded linearly toward minor pH changes in the range of 5.4–6.6. It should be noted that it’s rare to report that a ratiometric pH probe could detect so weak acidic pH with pKa = 6.31. In addition, probe RMPM exhibited excellent water-solubility, fast-response, all-right selectivity and brilliant reversibility. Moreover, RMPM has been successfully applied to sensing lysosomal pH in HeLa cells and has low cytotoxicity.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2014BM004) and (ZR2013BM020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Taishan Medical University, Tai’an, 271000, China

    Guang-Jie Song, Jing Luo & Xiao-Qun Cao

  2. Institute of Organic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Guang-Jie Song & Bao-Xiang Zhao

  3. Institute of Developmental Biology, School of Life Science, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Su-Yun Bai

  4. School of Life Science, Taishan Medical University, Tai’an, 271000, China

    Su-Yun Bai

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  1. Guang-Jie Song
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  2. Su-Yun Bai
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Correspondence to Xiao-Qun Cao or Bao-Xiang Zhao.

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Song, GJ., Bai, SY., Luo, J. et al. A Novel Water-soluble Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe Based on FRET for Sensing Lysosomal pH. J Fluoresc 26, 2079–2086 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-016-1902-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-016-1902-4

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