Tracking of intracellular doxorubicin-Cu complexes with FLIM technique

摘要

Here, a doxorubicin (Dox)-Cu complex is prepared and used as thiols-cleavable Dox prodrug in FLIMimaging studies. The Dox-Cu complex has no fluorescence and its absorption spectrum shows asignificant red shift as compared to the raw Dox. When the complex is mixed with biothiol compound,the fluorescence of Dox is restored. In this paper, both Dox and Dox-Cu complexes are used in thefluorescence lifetime analysis, cell incubation and FLIM imaging studies. The way of intracellulartransport and the changes in fluorescence lifetime of two compounds are basically the same. Thisindicates that the Dox-Cu complex has been decomposed into free Dox molecules and Cu-biothiolcomplex inside the cell. This research provides a valuable example for the study of Dox prodrug byFLIM technique, promoting the application of FLIM technique in drug research.