Ultra-fast zinc ion detection in living cells and zebrafish by a light-up fluorescent probe.

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, China.

Published: January 2019

As the second most abundant transition metal after iron in biological systems, Zn takes part in various fundamental life processes such as cellular metabolism and apoptosis, neurotransmission. Thus, the development of analytical methods for fast detection of Zn in biology and medicine has been attracting much attention but still remains a huge challenge. In this report, we develop a novel Zn-specific light-up fluorescent probe based on intramolecular charge transfer combined with chelation enhanced fluorescence induced by structural transformation. Addition of Zn in vitro can induce a remarkable color change from colorless to green and a strong fluorescence enhancement with a red shift of 43 nm. Moreover, the probe shows an extremely low detection limit of 13 nM and ultra-fast response time of less than 1 s. The Zn sensing mechanism was fully supported by TDDFT calculations as well as HRMS and H NMR titrations. The recognition of Zn in living Hela cells as well as the MTT assay demonstrate that the probe can rapidly light-up detect Zn in vivo with low cytotoxicity and good cell-permeability. Furthermore, the probe can also be successfully applied to bioimaging Zn in living zebrafish.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.saa.2018.08.025DOI Listing

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