A colorimetric and fluorescent probe for detecting intracellular biothiols

• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2016.04.098
• Publication Date: 2016-05-01T11:49:39Z
• Authors: Chunyang Chen; Wei Liu; Cong Xu; Weisheng Liu
• Keywords: Sheep; Goats; Optical Imaging; Glutathione; 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences; Mice; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Coumarins; Animals; Humans; Cattle; Colorimetry; Cysteine; Horses; Sulfhydryl Compounds; Chickens; Homocysteine; Fluorescent Dyes; HeLa Cells

A new rapid and highly sensitive coumarin-based probe (probe 1) has been designed and synthesized for detecting intracellular thiols. Probe 1 was prepared by a 4-step procedure as a latent fluorescence probe to achieve high sensitivity and fluorescence turn-on response toward cysteine and homocysteine over GSH and other various natural amino acids under physiological conditions. Owing to specific cyclization between thiols and aldehyde group, probe 1 displayed a highly selectivity toward cysteine and homocysteine. Above all, probe 1 was successfully used for fluorescence imaging of biothiols in Hela cells, and quantitative determination had been achieved within a certain range. Then specific fluorescence imaging of mice organ tissues was obtained for proving the permeability of probe 1. Simultaneously, the viability was measured to be more than 80%, which shows probe 1 can be a rapid and biocompatible probe for biothiols in cells. Furthermore, the measurement of thiols detection in 5 kinds of animal serum showed that probe 1 can be used in determination of biothiols in blood.