Chemical speciation of MeHg and Hg in aqueous solution and HEK cells nuclei by means of DNA interacting fluorogenic probes.

Selected new fluorogenic probes that interact in different ways with Hg and MeHg have been prepared and used for the chemical speciation of both cations in aqueous solution as well as in HEK293 cells. The best selective speciation of Hg and MeHg has been achieved by approaches based on fluorogenic probes supported in cultured cells, due to the particular sensitivity of the HEK293 cells to permeation by Hg, MeHg and the fluorogenic probes. In particular, MeHg was selectively detected in cell nuclei by probe JG45.