D-π-A-Based Trisubstituted Alkenes as Environmentally Sensitive Fluorescent Probes to Detect Lewy Pathologies

Anal Chem. 2022 Nov 8;94(44):15261-15269. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c02532. Epub 2022 Oct 25.

Abstract

Lewy pathologies, which mainly consist of insoluble α-synuclein (α-syn) aggregates, are the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease and many other neurodegenerative diseases termed "synucleinopathies". Detection of Lewy pathologies with optical methods is of interest for preclinical studies, while the α-syn fluorescent probe is still in great demand. By rational design, we obtained a series of D-π-A-based trisubstituted alkenes with acceptable optical properties and high binding affinities to α-syn fibrils. Among these probes, FPQXN and TQXN-2 exhibited high binding affinities (6 and 8 nM, respectively), significant fluorescence enhancements (17.2- and 26.6-fold, respectively), and satisfying quantum yields (36.5% and 10.4%, respectively), which met the need for the in vitro neuropathological staining of Lewy pathologies in the PD brain sections. In addition, TQXN-2 showed great potential in fluorescent discrimination of Lewy pathologies and Aβ plaques. Our research provides flexible tools for in vitro detection of α-syn aggregates and offers new structural frameworks for the further development of α-syn fluorescent probes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alkenes / metabolism
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Fluorescent Dyes* / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Parkinson Disease* / metabolism
  • Plaque, Amyloid / metabolism
  • alpha-Synuclein / chemistry

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Alkenes
  • alpha-Synuclein