Abstract
The mitochondria play a significant role in many cellular processes and are recognized as one of the most important therapeutic targets in cancer. Direct long-term imaging of the mitochondria is very crucial for treating cancer. However, the development of a red-emitting mitochondrial probe with a large Stokes shift and photostability remains highly challenging. Fluorescent metal complexes with superior physicochemical property have emerged as new fluorescent nanomaterials due to their increasing advantages in bioimaging. Herein, a luminescent pitaya-type nanostructure based on rhein-magnesium(II) (Rh-Mg) coordination polymer nanodots was used as a fluorescent nanoprobe to selectively image the mitochondria benefiting from the introduction of triphenylphosphine. The as-prepared Rh-Mg nanodot-based nanoprobe showed red emission peaking at 620 nm, a large Stokes shift (100 nm), and excellent photostability as compared with commercial mitochondrial probes. Due to these extraordinary features, this fluorescent nanoprobe was successfully used for mitochondrial targeting imaging of live cancer cell line Neuro-2a (mouse neuroblastoma) and BV2 microglial cells. Therefore, our results pave a new way for the design of fluorescent nanoprobes for imaging mitochondria in cancer cell.
Highlights
Among all cellular organelles, the mitochondria are known as the “power house” of mammalian cells and play crucial roles in biosynthesis, intracellular signal transduction, energy homeostasis, and apoptosis regulation [1,2,3,4]
Only very few examples of carbon dots (CDs)-based nanostructures have been proposed as fluorescent nanoprobes for selective mitochondrial targeting, but they usually only have the emission in the blue light range, which greatly limits their application [17, 18]
A fluorescent nanoprobe with red fluorescence emission, strong light stability, large Stokes shift, and low cost was designed for mitochondrial imaging
Summary
The mitochondria are known as the “power house” of mammalian cells and play crucial roles in biosynthesis, intracellular signal transduction, energy homeostasis, and apoptosis regulation [1,2,3,4]. As an important therapeutic target in cancer, it is significant to track and image the mitochondria. Fluorescence imaging [8,9,10,11,12], as a crucial diagnostic method, has advantages in mitochondrial imaging because of its good sensitivity, high spatial and temporal resolution, and easy operation [13,14,15]. One case of CDs can be emitted in the red light region, its Stokes shift is very small, only about 20 nm [19]. Small Stokes shift will decrease the detection sensitivity of probes in practical application. The development of a red lightemitting mitochondrial probe with a large Stokes shift and photostability is imperative but exceedingly challenging
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