A novel π-bridge rationally designed polarity-viscosity-sensitive probe for lipid imaging

Abstract

The polarity and viscosity of the microenvironment are closely related to the onset and development of many diseases. A variety of fluorescent probes have been used to detect viscosity and polarity in microenvironment, while fluorescent probes designed with 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) is rarely reported in bioimaging. Therefore, an electron push-pull (D-π-A) fluorescent probe (EDOT-LDs) was designed using EDOT as a novel π-bridge, and a polarity-sensitive fluorescent probe based on intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) was proposed, and the probe EDOT-LDs showed low biotoxicity and good selectivity to viscosity and polarity. Staining of HeLa cells with EDOT-LDs allowed real-time monitoring of lipid droplet movement, and the number of luminescent LDs decreased or increased accordingly in starved/oleic acid-treated cells. Therefore, EDOT-LDs have great potential as a tool for the detection of lipid droplets. In addition, EDOT-LDs have been successfully used to detect viscosity changes in cell and zebra fishes.