An endoplasmic reticulum-targeting fluorescent probe for discriminatory detection of Cys, Hcy and GSH in living cells

Xiuxiu Yue; Jiali Chen; Wenqiang Chen; Benhua Wang; Hui Zhang; Xiangzhi Song

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2020.119347

An endoplasmic reticulum-targeting fluorescent probe for discriminatory detection of Cys, Hcy and GSH in living cells

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2021 Apr 5:250:119347. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.119347. Epub 2020 Dec 22.

Authors

Xiuxiu Yue¹, Jiali Chen², Wenqiang Chen², Benhua Wang³, Hui Zhang⁴, Xiangzhi Song⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China.
² College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Natural Polymer Chemistry and Physics, Nanning Normal University, Nanning, Guangxi 530001, China.
³ College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China. Electronic address: benhuawang@csu.edu.cn.
⁴ College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China. Electronic address: zhhuicsu@163.com.
⁵ College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China; Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Water Environment and Agriculture Product Safety, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China.

PMID: 33422873
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.119347

Abstract

Endoplasmic reticulum, known to us as the ER, is the largest organelle in many kinds of eukaryotic cells and plays vital roles in maintaining the normal function of cells. Biothiols (Cys, Hcy, GSH) in secretory proteins will be modified as they enter the ER and are of great importance in balancing redox state of ER environments. In this article, we have developed the first endoplasmic reticulum-targeting fluorescent probe, ER-CP, for concurrent distinguishment of Cys, Hcy and GSH with favorable sensitivity and selectivity. ER-CP was successfully used in fluorescence imaging of Cys, Hcy and GSH in HeLa cells. In addition, ER-CP exhibited a good ER-targeting property (Pearson's correlation coefficient = 0.90).

Keywords: Cysteine; Endoplasmic reticulum; Fluorescent probe; Glutathione; Homocysteine.

MeSH terms

Cysteine*
Endoplasmic Reticulum
Fluorescent Dyes*
Glutathione
HeLa Cells
Homocysteine
Humans

Substances

Fluorescent Dyes
Homocysteine
Glutathione
Cysteine