Synthesis of fluorescent nanoprobe with simultaneous response to intracellular pH and Zn2+ for tumor cell distinguishment.

Abstract

Anovel dual-functional nanoprobe was designed and synthesized by facile assembly of quinoline derivative (PEIQ) and meso-tetra (4-carboxyphenyl) porphine (TCPP) via electrostatic interaction for simultaneous sensing offluorescence of Zn2+ and pH. Under the single-wavelength excitation at 400nm, this nanoprobe not only exhibits "OFF-ON" green fluorescence at 512nm by specific PEIQ-Zn2+ chelation, but also presents red fluorescence enhancement at 654nm by H+-triggered TCPP release. The nanoprobe demonstrated excellent sensing performance with a good linear range (Zn2+, 1-40μM; pH, 5.0-8.0), low detection limit (Zn2+, 0.88μM), and simultaneous response towards Zn2+ and pH in pureaqueous solution within 2min. More importantly, this dual-functional nanoprobe demonstrates the capability of discerning cancerous cells from normal cells, as evidenced by the fact thatcancerous HepG2 cells in tumor microenvironment exhibit substantially higher red fluorescence and significantly lower green fluorescence than normal HL-7702 cells. The simultaneous, real-time fluorescence imaging of multiple analytes in a living system could be significant for cell analysis and tracking, cancer diagnosis, and even fluorescence-guided surgery of tumors.