A self-calibrating bipartite viscosity sensor for mitochondria.

A self-calibrating bipartite viscosity sensor 1 for cellular mitochondria, composed of coumarin and boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) with a rigid phenyl spacer and a mitochondria-targeting unit, was synthesized. The sensor showed a direct linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity ratio of BODIPY to coumarin or the fluorescence lifetime ratio and the media viscosity, which allowed us to determine the average mitochondrial viscosity in living HeLa cells as ca. 62 cP (cp). Upon treatment with an ionophore, monensin, or nystatin, the mitochondrial viscosity was observed to increase to ca. 110 cP.