A novel AIEgen-based probe for detecting cysteine in lipid droplets

Wei Cheng, Xuqi Xue, Fang Zhang, Baoxin Zhang, Taihan Li, Liang Peng, Dong Hyung Cho, Hongli Chen, Jianguo Fang, Xingguo Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

A smart fluorescent probe DPAS-Cys has been rationally designed based on a typical AIEgen DPAS and an acrylate moiety. The probe DPAS-Cys not only can be used for the detection of cysteine (Cys) selectively with large Stokes shift (200 nm) and relatively low detection limit (2.4 μM), but also shows lipid droplets (LDs) targeting property. The response mechanism for Cys was carefully verified. Importantly, due to the aggregation-induced emission characteristic, the introduction of considerable percentage of traditional organic solvent is avoidable, which makes it suitable for bioimaging in physiological systems. In addition, the confocal fluorescence imaging demonstrates that DPAS-Cys is able to detect Cys in LDs of different cell lines with universality. Our study opens a new avenue to understand the importance of LDs in biosystem, for which the gap between the essential biothiol Cys and the energy storage organelle LDs was bridged for the first time.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20-28
Number of pages9
JournalAnalytica Chimica Acta
Volume1127
DOIs
StatePublished - 29 Aug 2020

Keywords

  • Aggregation-induced emission
  • Cell imaging
  • Cysteine detection
  • Fluorescent probe
  • Lipid droplets

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A novel AIEgen-based probe for detecting cysteine in lipid droplets'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this