Highly Selective Fluorescent Probe for Imaging HSe in Living Cells and in Vivo Based on the Disulfide Bond.

Hydrogen selenide (HSe) is an important metabolite of dietary Se compounds and has been implicated in various pathological and physiological processes. The development of highly sensitive and selective methods for the sensing of HSe is therefore very important. Herein, we developed a fluorescent probe (hemicyanine (Hcy)-HSe) for detecting HSe based on a new HSe-specific receptor unit, 1,2-dithiane-4,5-diol.

A Glutathione (GSH)-Responsive Near-Infrared (NIR) Theranostic Prodrug for Cancer Therapy and Imaging.

To reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, nontoxic prodrugs activated by the tumor microenvironment are urgently required for use in cancer treatment. In this work, we developed prodrug 4 for tumor-targeting treatment and imaging of the anticancer drug release in vivo. Taking advantage of the high glutathione (GSH) concentration in cancer cells, the disulfide bond in prodrug 4 was cleaved, resulting in the release of an active anticancer drug and a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence dye turn-on.

Active-site-matched fluorescent probes for rapid and direct detection of vicinal-sulfydryl-containing peptides/proteins in living cells.

Vicinal-sulfydryl-containing peptides/proteins (VSPPs) play a crucial role in human pathologies. Fluorescent probes that are capable of detecting intracellular VSPPs in vivo would be useful tools to explore the mechanisms of some diseases. In this study, by regulating the spatial separation of two maleimide groups in a fluorescent dye to match that of two active cysteine residues contained in the conserved amino acid sequence (-CGPC-) of human thioredoxin, two active-site-matched fluorescent probes, o-Dm-Ac and m-Dm-Ac, were developed for real-time imaging of VSPPs in living cells.