Aberrant
mitochondrial viscosity is closely associated with many
diseases and cellular malfunctions. Thus, the development of reliable
methods for monitoring mitochondrial viscosity variations has attracted
considerable attention. Herein, through stepwise structural modulation
of the dihydroxanthene fluorophore (DHX), we developed
three NIR fluorescent probes, named DHX-V-1–3,
for detecting mitochondrial viscosity. Among them, DHX-V-3 displayed the highest signal-to-noise ratio (67-fold) for viscosity
with outstanding selectivity and showed excellent mitochondria targeting
and immobilization ability. At the cellular level, the DHX-V-3 probe was successfully applied to image the mitochondrial viscosity
in live cells upon treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or nystatin.
Moreover, benefiting from its NIR emission and the increased depth
of tissue imaging, DHX-V-3 demonstrated the ability to
visualize the increased viscosity in LPS-treated mice.
Herein, seven viscosity-sensitive probes were developed via simple structural modification of dicyanoisophorone (DCO)-derived dyes. Among the new dyes, DCO-5 significantly enhances (180-fold) the response signal in highly viscous aqueous media...
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