Shan Lin, Li Xuewei, Zheng Xiuli, Wu Jiasheng, Ren Haohui, Liu Weimin, Wang Pengfei
Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials and CityU-CAS Joint Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Molecules. 2023 Sep 14;28(18):6626. doi: 10.3390/molecules28186626.
As a class of highly dynamic organelles, lipid droplets (LDs) are involved in numerous physiological functions, and the changes in polarity of LDs are closely related to a variety of diseases. In this work, we developed two polarity-sensitive fluorescent probes (CC-CH and CC-Cl) based on curcumin analogs. CC-CH and CC-Cl with a donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) structure exhibited the property of intramolecular charge transfer (ICT); thus, their fluorescence emissions were significantly attenuated with increasing ambient polarity. Cell experiments indicated that CC-CH and CC-Cl showed excellent photostability, a low cytotoxicity, and a superior targeting ability regarding LDs. After treatment with oleic acid (OA) and methyl-β-cyclodextrin (M-β-CD), the polarity changes of LDs in living cells could be visualized by using CC-CH and CC-Cl. In addition, CC-CH and CC-Cl could monitor polarity changes of LDs in different pathological processes, including inflammatory responses, nutrient deprivation, and HO-induced oxidative stress. Therefore, CC-CH and CC-Cl are promising potential fluorescent probes for tracking intracellular LD polarity changes.
作为一类高度动态的细胞器，脂滴（LDs）参与众多生理功能，且脂滴极性的变化与多种疾病密切相关。在本研究中，我们基于姜黄素类似物开发了两种极性敏感荧光探针（CC-CH和CC-Cl）。具有供体-受体-供体（D-A-D）结构的CC-CH和CC-Cl表现出分子内电荷转移（ICT）特性；因此，随着环境极性增加，它们的荧光发射显著减弱。细胞实验表明，CC-CH和CC-Cl具有出色的光稳定性、低细胞毒性以及对脂滴的优异靶向能力。用油酸（OA）和甲基-β-环糊精（M-β-CD）处理后，利用CC-CH和CC-Cl可观察活细胞中脂滴的极性变化。此外，CC-CH和CC-Cl能够监测不同病理过程中脂滴的极性变化，包括炎症反应、营养剥夺和过氧化氢（HO）诱导的氧化应激。因此，CC-CH和CC-Cl是追踪细胞内脂滴极性变化的有前景的潜在荧光探针。
