Fluorescent Probes for Sensing and Imaging Biological Hydrogen Sulfide

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important endogenous biological signal molecule that plays an essential role in various pathological and physiological processes. Abnormal expression of H2S in vivo is associated with the occurrence and development of many diseases. Therefore, sensing biological H2S level and distribution is significant and has been extensively studied presently. A few reviews about H2S sensing and imaging have been reported, most of which focus on the sensing mechanisms and construction of probes. In this review, we firstly summarized and classified the H2S‐activated fluorescent probes over the past 5 years according to sensing modality and then mainly discussed their biological applications, including detection of physiological and pathological processes, diagnosis of diseases, and disease treatments. It is expected that this review can deepen the readers′ understanding of the biological role of H2S and provide them with biomedical background knowledge for the construction of the H2S probes.

Responsive β-Diketonate-europium(III) Complex-Based Probe for Time-Gated Luminescence Detection and Imaging of Hydrogen Sulfide In Vitro and In Vivo

“…To date, a number of H 2 S-responsive fluorescent probes have been developed on the basis of diverse reaction mechanisms, 19 such as nucleophilic addition, 20,21 the reduction of azide and nitro to amine, 22−24 metal coordination and displacement, 25,26 etc. 27−29 These fluorescent probes with large spectroscopic changes in response to H 2 S enabled the detection of H 2 S in various complicated environmental and biological samples to be performed.…”

“…To date, a number of H 2 S-responsive fluorescent probes have been developed on the basis of diverse reaction mechanisms, such as nucleophilic addition, , the reduction of azide and nitro to amine, − metal coordination and displacement, , etc. − These fluorescent probes with large spectroscopic changes in response to H 2 S enabled the detection of H 2 S in various complicated environmental and biological samples to be performed. Despite the advances mentioned above, the in situ quantitative monitoring of low-level H 2 S in living systems is still a challenge, because of its high reactivity to other molecules (fleetingly catabolized in vivo by the reactions) and the effect of background signals in complicated samples (reducing the sensitivity and accuracy). , The development of innovative fluorescent probes that can be used for establishing simple, low-cost, and highly sensitive methods for the real-time and in situ monitoring of H 2 S in living systems would be desirable.…”

Detection of aqueous and gaseous hydrogen sulfide with lanthanide–macrocycle binary complexes

“…10 At a pH of 7.4, hydrogen sulfide predominantly exists as HS − . Even though there are a number of H 2 S sensors reported over the years, [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] with a few of them being lanthanide-based chemosensors, [11][12][13]15,16,20 improving sensitivity and selectivity in H 2 S detection still remains a challenge. Ideally, the sensor should have the capability to detect aqueous H 2 S at a micromolar level and gaseous H 2 S at parts per million ( ppm) levels, exhibit short reaction times to allow real-time monitoring, and be unaffected by interferences from the surrounding environment.…”

Recent Progress in Fluorescent Probes for the Detection and Research of Hydrogen Sulfide in Cells

“…Its non-invasiveness and quick detection of biomarkers have been pursued by researchers [29]. Selective activatable probes can be designed to specifically detect target biomarkers, providing effective tools for the visualization of H 2 S in cells and in vivo [30][31][32].…”