Phosphinate-benzoindocyanin fluorescent probe for endogenous mitochondrial peroxynitrite detection in living cells and gallbladder access in inflammatory zebrafish animal models

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2022 Feb 15;267(Pt 2):120568. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2021.120568. Epub 2021 Nov 1.

Abstract

Potent oxidants such as peroxynitrite (ONOO-) play important roles in the regulation of different physiopathological processes; their overproduction is thought to potentially cause several diseases in living organisms. Hence, the precise and selective monitoring of ONOO- is imperative for elucidating its interplay and roles in pathological and physiological processes. Herein, we present a novel diphenyl phosphinate-masked benzoindocyanin "turn-on" fluorogenic probe to help detect mitochondrial ONOO- in living cells and zebrafish models. A pale yellow color solution of BICBzDP turns rose-red upon the addition of ONOO-, selectively, contrary to that of other competitive bioactive molecules. BICBzDP displays an ultra-sensitivity detection limit (47.8 nM) with outstanding selectivity and sensitivity towards mitochondrial ONOO- and possesses a notable 68-fold fluorescence enhancement involving a large redshift of 91 nm. Importantly, further biological experimental investigations with BICBzDP indicate specific sensitivity and reliability of the probe to track the ONOO- level, not only in live cells, but also demonstrates dynamic fluctuations in the inflammatory zebrafish animal models. Thus, BICBzDP could be employed as a future potential biological tool for exploiting the role of ONOO- in a variety of different physiological systems.

Keywords: Cell imaging; Diphenyl phosphinate; Mitochondria-accessing; ONOO(−); Zebrafish.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Fluorescent Dyes*
  • Gallbladder
  • Models, Animal
  • Peroxynitrous Acid*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Zebrafish

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Peroxynitrous Acid