Two-photon fluorescent turn-on probe for lipid rafts in live cell and tissue.

We report a new two-photon fluorescence turn-on probe 6-[(E)-3-oxo-1-dodecenyl]-2-[N-methyl-N-(carboxymethyl)amino]naphthalene (CL2) that is designed specifically for visualizing lipid rafts in living cells and tissues. This probe emits much brighter two-photon excited fluorescence in lipid rafts than in non-raft domains and allows direct visualization of the lipid rafts in the live cells and pyramidal neuron layer of the CA1 region at a depth of 100-250 mum in live tissues using two-photon microscopy.