An endoplasmic reticulum-targeting fluorescent probe for the imaging of GSH in living cells

Abstract

Glutathione (GSH) is an abundant non-protein thiol and performs critical biological functions in living systems. Herein, a new endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-targeting fluorescent probe (ER-G) is presented for the detection of cellular GSH. The probe ER-G utilized a p-toluenesulfonamide unit as the ER-specific group and used 2,4-nitrobenzene sulfonate as a response site for GSH. After the response of ER-G to GSH, an obviously increased turn-on fluorescence signal could be obtained in a short time. Biological imaging applications suggested that this probe could be applied for the detection of cellular GSH in the ER and also for the imaging of H₂O₂-induced cellular GSH concentration changes in the ER.