107 - In vivo two-photon imaging of malondialdehyde in mice brains with new carbon dots

Abstract

Brains are considered to produce lipid peroxidation in the case of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI). Malondialdehyde (MDA) is a biomarker of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress, which can cross-link with biomacromolecules to destroy their functions. Thus, it is of great interest to determine the function of MDA in brain injury. However, due to lacking the appropriate imaging techniques of MDA in vivo, especially in brains, precise exploration of MDA in brains remains a challenge. To address this issue, we synthesized new two-photon carbon dots (CD-1) for detecting MDA in cells and living brains for the first time. CD-1 exhibited exceptional selectivity and high sensitivity towards MDA, and avoided the self-fluorescence of MDA perfectly. Utilizing two-photon imaging, CD-1 was applied for monitoring MDA in PC12 cells under H2O2 stimuli, verifying that MDA increased significantly compared to the control cells. In particular, we used CD-1 for mapping MDA in mice brains with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, thereby witnessed a positive correlation between MDA and cerebral injury. Altogether, our work establishes a new method for live monitoring MDA in vivo and provides a new strategy for revealing the pathogenesis of MDA-related brain diseases in future.