Cheng Miao, Lyu Xingyu, Niu Jie, Su Yangang, Lyu Qing, Sheng Nan, Yu Xiaoqiang
State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, PR China.
State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, PR China; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shandong Institute of Otorhinolaryngology, Shandong Provincial Key Medical and Health Laboratory of Theranostic Fluorescent Materials for Head and Neck Cancer, Shandong Provincial ENT Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250022, PR China.
Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2025 Dec 15;343:126579. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2025.126579. Epub 2025 Jun 19.
Mitochondrial cristae are the site of intracellular biochemical reactions that play important roles in many life activities, and the destruction of mitochondrial cristae will lead to mitochondrial dysfunction inducing related diseases. Therefore, the visualization of mitochondria cristae is of great significance for physiopathology and medicine. Herein, we reported a group of cyanine-based fluorescent probes (Cy-OH and Cy-Cl) for tagging mitochondrial cristae under STED microscopy. Cy-OH and Cy-Cl could gather in the inner mitochondrial membrane via electrostatic interaction. And the ability of Cy-OH to target mitochondria depending on mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), while Cy-Cl could tightly immobilize in mitochondria benefiting by the reaction between its chloromethyl group and mitochondrial proteins, regardless of MMP. Moreover, Cy-Cl reacted fully with mitochondrial proteins during the staining process and exhibited superior performance than some commercial mitochondrial trackers. Importantly, profiting from the high photostability and high brightness of the two probes, they could clearly depict the mitochondrial cristae at a concentration of 200 nM under STED microscopy. We believe that Cy-OH and Cy-Cl could serve as vigoroso tools to study mitochondrial cristae changes in various physiological and pathological processes.
线粒体嵴是细胞内生化反应的场所，在许多生命活动中发挥着重要作用，线粒体嵴的破坏会导致线粒体功能障碍，引发相关疾病。因此，线粒体嵴的可视化对于生理病理学和医学具有重要意义。在此，我们报道了一组基于菁的荧光探针（Cy-OH和Cy-Cl），用于在受激发射损耗（STED）显微镜下标记线粒体嵴。Cy-OH和Cy-Cl可通过静电相互作用聚集在线粒体内膜中。Cy-OH靶向线粒体的能力取决于线粒体膜电位（MMP），而Cy-Cl无论MMP如何，其氯甲基基团与线粒体蛋白之间的反应都能使其紧密固定在线粒体中。此外，Cy-Cl在染色过程中与线粒体蛋白充分反应，表现出比一些商业线粒体追踪剂更优异的性能。重要的是，得益于这两种探针的高光稳定性和高亮度，它们在STED显微镜下以200 nM的浓度能够清晰地描绘线粒体嵴。我们相信，Cy-OH和Cy-Cl可作为有力的工具，用于研究各种生理和病理过程中线粒体嵴的变化。
