Construction of a highly specific fluorescence "turn-on" probe for HS detection and imaging in drug-induced live cells, zebrafish and mice arthritis models.

Quantitatively and selectively detecting the biomarker of hydrogen sulfide (HS) in arthritis diseases is of great significance for the early diagnosis and treatment of arthritis. Modern medical studies show that HS as a biomarker is involved in the development of inflammation. In this work, a new highly specific fluorescence "turn-on" probe JMD-HS was tailored for HS detection and imaging in drug-induced live cells, zebrafish and mice arthritis models, which utilized pyrazoline molecule as the fluorescence signal reporter group and 2,4-dinitrophenyl ether group (DNB) with strong intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect as the HS recognition moiety and fluorescence quenching group. JMD-HS showed a fast response time (<60 s), a large fluorescence response ratio (enhanced ∼20 folds) at I/I, excellent sensitivity toward HS over other analytes, and an outstanding limit of detection (LOD) as low as 25.3 nM. In addition, JMD-HS has been successfully applied for detecting and imaging HS in drug-induced live cells, zebrafish, and mice arthritis models with satisfactory results, suggesting it can be used as a robust molecular tool for investigating the occurrence and development of HS and arthritis.