Issue 31, 2023

Chemical sensors for imaging total cellular aliphatic aldehydes in live cells

Abstract

Aliphatic aldehydes are reactive electrophilic carbonyls that cross-link with DNA and proteins leading to cellular toxicity and disease pathogenesis. This toxicity is due to the cooperative effect of multiple aldehydes via a common mechanism. Therefore, live-cell imaging of total aliphatic aldehydes, small-to-long chain (C1–C10), is highly desired to decipher their physiological and pathological functions. However, sensors for imaging total cellular aliphatic aldehydes are currently lacking despite their high concentrations (∼80 to >500 μM) inside cells. Herein, we report chemical sensors that generate a benzimidazole moiety upon reaction with aliphatic aldehydes of different chain lengths (C1–C10), resulting in turn-on fluorescence. These sensors exhibit high quantum yields, high dynamic range, and enable the quantification of changes in both the exogenous administration of aldehydes and endogenous real-time formation of aliphatic aldehydes in live mammalian cells. This tool has great potential to transform aldehyde research by illuminating cellular metabolites that have remained elusive in living systems.

Graphical abstract: Chemical sensors for imaging total cellular aliphatic aldehydes in live cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
19 apr 2023
Accepted
28 iyn 2023
First published
19 iyl 2023
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., 2023,14, 8305-8314

Chemical sensors for imaging total cellular aliphatic aldehydes in live cells

R. Wills, J. Farhi, P. Czabala, S. Shahin, J. M. Spangle and M. Raj, Chem. Sci., 2023, 14, 8305 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC02025H

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