School of Marine Science and Technology, Weihai Marine Organism & Medical Technology Research Institute, Harbin Institute of Technology, Weihai 264209, China.
Tianjin Key Laboratory for Photoelectric Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China.
Anal Chem. 2021 Feb 2;93(4):2244-2253. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c04100. Epub 2021 Jan 5.
As a kind of bioactive sulfur species, biothiols (Cys, Hcy, and GSH) play an irreplaceable role in regulating the redox balance of life processes. Because of their similar chemical structures and properties, a sulfydryl group, and an amino group, it is an important challenge to distinguish two or more of them at the same time. Herein, a fluorescent sensor () based on the coumarin structure was developed to discriminate Cys/Hcy and GSH simultaneously. The sensor has no fluorescence due to the d-PET effect but displays strong fluorescence after its reaction with biothiols. There are two potential reaction sites (nitrophenyl sulfide group and aldehyde group) in the structure of , resulting in different fluorescent signal changes after reacting with biothiols (green for Cys and Hcy and red for GSH). Under double-wavelength excitation, the sensor shows low background fluorescence, high selectivity, and low detection limits toward biothiols. Moreover, the sensor can be used to discriminate different biothiols (Cys/Hcy and GSH) in cells and zebra fish by different fluorescence signals with low toxicity and might provide a promising tool for studying the roles of different biothiols in various physiological and pathological processes.
作为一种生物活性硫物种，生物硫醇（半胱氨酸、同型半胱氨酸和谷胱甘肽）在调节生命过程的氧化还原平衡中发挥着不可替代的作用。由于它们具有相似的化学结构和性质，都含有一个巯基和一个氨基，因此同时区分两种或更多种生物硫醇是一个重要的挑战。在此，我们开发了一种基于香豆素结构的荧光传感器（），可同时区分半胱氨酸/同型半胱氨酸和谷胱甘肽。由于 d-PET 效应，传感器没有荧光，但与生物硫醇反应后会显示出强荧光。在的结构中有两个潜在的反应位点（硝基苯硫醚基团和醛基），与生物硫醇反应后会导致荧光信号发生不同的变化（绿色表示半胱氨酸和同型半胱氨酸，红色表示谷胱甘肽）。在双波长激发下，该传感器对生物硫醇具有低背景荧光、高选择性和低检测限。此外，该传感器可用于通过不同的荧光信号在细胞和斑马鱼中区分不同的生物硫醇（半胱氨酸/同型半胱氨酸和谷胱甘肽），具有低毒性，可能为研究不同生物硫醇在各种生理和病理过程中的作用提供了一种有前途的工具。
