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Rational design of a near-infrared dual-emission fluorescent probe for ratiometric imaging of glutathione in cells

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Abstract

Sensors for which the output signal is an intensity change for a single-emission peak are easily disturbed by many factors, such as the stability of the instrument, intensity of the excitation light, and biological background. However, for ratiometric fluorescence sensors, the output signal is a change in the intensity ratio of two or more emission peaks. The fluorescence intensity of these emission peaks is similarly affected by external factors; thus, these sensors have the ability to self-correct, which can greatly improve the accuracy and reliability of the detection results. To accurately image glutathione (GSH) in cells, gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with intrinsic double emission at wavelengths of 606 nm and 794 nm were synthesized from chloroauric acid. With the emission peak at 606 nm as the recognition signal and the emission peak at 794 nm as the reference signal, a near-infrared dual-emission ratio fluorescence sensing platform was constructed to accurately detect changes in the GSH concentration in cells. In vitro and in vivo analyses showed that the ratiometric fluorescent probe specifically detects GSH and enables ultrasensitive imaging, providing a new platform for the accurate detection of active small molecules.

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Data availability

The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files. Should any raw data files be needed in another format they are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China (Nos. 22346021, 22064018, 51963021), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Province of China (2020GXNSFAA159072), and the PhD Research Startup Program of Yulin Normal University (G2022ZK21, G2023ZK04), as well as the China University Students Innovative Project (202310606029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources Chemistry and Biotechnology, College of Chemistry and Food Science, Yulin Normal University, Yulin, 537000, China

    Shulong Wang, Zhifang Li, Jiayao Xu, Qingyan Lin, Wenfang Huang, Mingzhu Fan, Rong Wang & Zhihui Luo

Authors
  1. Shulong Wang
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  2. Zhifang Li
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  3. Jiayao Xu
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  4. Qingyan Lin
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  7. Rong Wang
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  8. Zhihui Luo
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Contributions

SW and JX designed the experiments. SW, ZL, MF, WH, and QL designed and synthesized the probe and studied the viability and cell imaging. RW and ZL assisted with the cell imaging data analysis and the manuscript drafting. All authors analyzed and discussed the data and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jiayao Xu, Rong Wang or Zhihui Luo.

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Wang, S., Li, Z., Xu, J. et al. Rational design of a near-infrared dual-emission fluorescent probe for ratiometric imaging of glutathione in cells. Microchim Acta 191, 92 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-024-06179-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-024-06179-6

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