A Three-Photon Active Organic Fluorophore for Deep Tissue Ratiometric Imaging of Intracellular Divalent Zinc

Divya Susan Philips, Sivaramapanicker Sreejith*, Tingchao He, Nishanth Venugopal Menon, Palapuravan Anees, Jomon Mathew, Sreedharan Sajikumar, Yuejun Kang, Mihaiela Corina Stuparu, Handong Sun, Yanli Zhao, Ayyappanpillai Ajayaghosh

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Deep tissue bioimaging with three-photon (3P) excitation using near-infrared (NIR) light in the second IR window (1.0-1.4 μm) could provide high resolution images with an improved signal-to-noise ratio. Herein, we report a photostable and nontoxic 3P excitable donor-π-acceptor system (GMP) having 3P cross-section (σ3) of 1.78×10-80 cm6 s2 photon-2 and action cross-section (σ3η3) of 2.31×10-81 cm6 s2 photon-2, which provides ratiometric fluorescence response with divalent zinc ions in aqueous conditions. The probe signals the Zn2+ binding at 530 and 600 nm, respectively, upon 1150 nm excitation with enhanced σ3 of 1.85×10-80 cm6 s2 photon-2 and σ3η3 of 3.33×10-81 cm6 s2 photon-2. The application of this probe is demonstrated for ratiometric 3P imaging of Zn2+ in vitro using HuH-7 cell lines. Furthermore, the Zn2+ concentration in rat hippocampal slices was imaged at 1150 nm excitation after incubation with GMP, illustrating its potential as a 3P ratiometric probe for deep tissue Zn2+ ion imaging. Shining bright: A new three-photon (3P) active organic fluorophore with a high 3P absorption cross section close to that of inorganic-semiconductor-based systems is reported, which allows deep tissue ratiometric imaging of Zn2+ in hippocampal slices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1523-1527
Number of pages5
JournalChemistry - An Asian Journal
Volume11
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 20 2016
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Biochemistry
  • General Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry

Keywords

  • fluorescent probes
  • hippocampus
  • imaging agents
  • three-photon probes
  • zinc

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