Mitochondria-targeted fluorescent probes for oxidative stress imaging

The excessive accumulation of hypochlorite could cause tissue damage and a range of diseases. However, the exact role of hypochlorite in biological activity remains elusive. In many of the reported probes for hypochlorite, DMSO which is an efficient HOCl and •OH scavenger was used as solvent. Besides, no fluorescent probes have been reported to quantify the accumulation of HOCl in living cells and in vivo. In order to reach this purpose, in this study, we report two mitochondria-targeted probes (L1 and L2) for detecting ClO−. These probes which were easy to be synthesized, shown high sensitivity and fast response (within 3 min) to ClO−. Fluorescent imaging of probes in MCF-7 cells and in zebrafish indicated that L1/L2 could be used for detecting ClO− in living cells and organisms. ClO− could also be used as a dual input logic gate for L1 and L2. Probe L2 could be used to monitor oxidative stress-related biological processes in nude mice.