State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Macau SAR, China.
State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
Talanta. 2018 Mar 1;179:326-330. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2017.11.035. Epub 2017 Nov 21.
Developing fluorescent probes to image thiols in the living system may provide powerful tools to study the functions of thiol-containing biological molecules. In this study, we report the design and evaluation of a novel turn-on fluorescent probe NQNO for selective detection of thiols in living cells. By introducing an ortho-aldehyde group to NNO, a conventional compound representing a class of thiol-imaging strategy, we obtained NQNO with enhanced selectivity for thiols over the major interferent hydrogen sulfide (HS). NQNO could be applied in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), where the efficacy of NNO was usually weakened. Notably, NQNO demonstrated solid performance in imaging endogenous thiols in living cells without exerting cytotoxicity. In summary, NQNO has the potential to serve as a safe, sensitive and effective fluorescent probe for thiol imaging in biological systems.
开发用于在活体系中成像巯基的荧光探针，可以为研究含巯基生物分子的功能提供有力工具。在本研究中，我们报告了一种新型的用于在活细胞中选择性检测巯基的荧光探针 NQNO 的设计和评价。通过在 NNO 中引入邻醛基，我们得到了 NQNO，它对巯基的选择性增强，超过了主要干扰物硫化氢 (HS)。NQNO 可以在磷酸盐缓冲盐水 (PBS) 中应用，而 NNO 的功效通常会在 PBS 中减弱。值得注意的是，NQNO 在不产生细胞毒性的情况下，在活细胞内成像内源性巯基方面表现出良好的性能。总之，NQNO 有望成为生物体系中巯基成像的一种安全、灵敏、有效的荧光探针。
