Two-photon imaging of 1,4-dithiothreitol (DTT) by a red-emissive fluorescent probe in living cells, tissues and animals

摘要

1,4-Dithiothreitol (DTT) is an important small-molecular reducing agent and has extensive applications in biochemistry, peptide/protein chemistry and clinical medicine. The development of effective methods for monitoring DTT is of great importance for its safe use and studying its toxicity to human. In this work, we present a two photon red-emissive probe for the imaging of DTT in living cells, tissues and animals. The probe employed a two photon red-emissive xanthene dye as the fluorophore and selected 2,4-dinitrophenylate as the novel recognition site for DTT. In response to DTT, the probe displayed excellent sensitivity and selectivity. The probe was successfully applied to the two-photon imaging of DTT in living cells, and the imaging of DTT in living tissues and animals. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.