College of Chemistry, Henan Joint International Research Laboratory of Green Construction of Functional Molecules and Their Bioanalytical Applications, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China.
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Adv Biosyst. 2020 Mar;4(3):e1900261. doi: 10.1002/adbi.201900261. Epub 2020 Feb 6.
Mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, which maintain the metabolism of living cells. Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) is the key parameter of mitochondria and represents cellular activity. The programmable MMP transformations, i.e., normal, decrease, and vanishing, are indicative mitochondria healthy/damaged/dead states. Therefore, methods for monitoring MMP are of great importance. In this work, carbon dots responsive to mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP-CDs) are prepared by a simple microwave method. The intracellular distribution of the MMP-CDs is dependent on the mitochondrial membrane potential. Three different spatiotemporally organelle distributions (mitochondria/lysosome/nucleus) of the MMP-CDs indicate three distinct MMP levels (normal/decrease/vanishing), which represent three different cell states (healthy/damaged/dead). The normal cells with high mitochondrial membrane potential causes the MMP-CDs to accumulate in the mitochondria due to the Nernstian effect. The MMP-CDs are released from the mitochondria and transported to the lysosome when cells are in apoptosis with the decreased mitochondrial membrane potential. In dead cells with a vanished mitochondrial membrane potential, the MMP-CDs are collocated with the nucleus due to the affinity with DNA. Thus, various cellular states can be visualized through the different localizations of the MMP-CDs. These MMP-CDs are successfully employed in the detection of autophagy and H O -induced mitochondria and mitochondrial membrane potential changes.
线粒体是细胞的“动力工厂”，维持着活细胞的新陈代谢。线粒体膜电位（MMP）是线粒体的关键参数，代表着细胞的活性。可编程的 MMP 转变，即正常、降低和消失，分别代表着线粒体健康/损伤/死亡的状态。因此，监测 MMP 的方法非常重要。在这项工作中，通过简单的微波法制备了对线粒体膜电位（MMP-CDs）有响应的碳点。MMP-CDs 的细胞内分布依赖于线粒体膜电位。MMP-CDs 的三种不同的时空调位分布（线粒体/溶酶体/核）表明存在三种不同的 MMP 水平（正常/降低/消失），分别代表三种不同的细胞状态（健康/损伤/死亡）。具有高线粒体膜电位的正常细胞会导致 MMP-CDs 由于能斯特效应而积聚在线粒体中。当线粒体膜电位降低导致细胞凋亡时，MMP-CDs 从线粒体中释放出来，并被转运到溶酶体中。在线粒体膜电位消失的死亡细胞中，由于与 DNA 的亲和力，MMP-CDs 与核共定位。因此，通过 MMP-CDs 的不同定位可以可视化各种细胞状态。这些 MMP-CDs 成功地用于检测自噬和 H O 诱导的线粒体和线粒体膜电位变化。
