Issue 9, 2017

A multi-signal fluorescent probe for simultaneously distinguishing and sequentially sensing cysteine/homocysteine, glutathione, and hydrogen sulfide in living cells

Abstract

Biothiols, which have a close network of generation and metabolic pathways among them, are essential reactive sulfur species (RSS) in the cells and play vital roles in human physiology. However, biothiols possess highly similar chemical structures and properties, resulting in it being an enormous challenge to simultaneously discriminate them from each other. Herein, we develop a unique fluorescent probe (HMN) for not only simultaneously distinguishing Cys/Hcy, GSH, and H2S from each other, but also sequentially sensing Cys/Hcy/GSH and H2S using a multi-channel fluorescence mode for the first time. When responding to the respective biothiols, the robust probe exhibits multiple sets of fluorescence signals at three distinct emission bands (blue-green-red). The new probe can also sense H2S at different concentration levels with changes of fluorescence at the blue and red emission bands. In addition, the novel probe HMN is able to discriminate and sequentially sense biothiols in biological environments via three-color fluorescence imaging. We expect that the development of the robust probe HMN will provide a powerful strategy to design fluorescent probes for the discrimination and sequential detection of biothiols, and offer a promising tool for exploring the interrelated roles of biothiols in various physiological and pathological conditions.

Graphical abstract: A multi-signal fluorescent probe for simultaneously distinguishing and sequentially sensing cysteine/homocysteine, glutathione, and hydrogen sulfide in living cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
27 Jan 2017
Accepted
26 Jun 2017
First published
30 Jun 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 6257-6265

A multi-signal fluorescent probe for simultaneously distinguishing and sequentially sensing cysteine/homocysteine, glutathione, and hydrogen sulfide in living cells

L. He, X. Yang, K. Xu, X. Kong and W. Lin, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 6257 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC00423K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements