Screening of H2S donors with a red emission mitochondria-targetable fluorescent probe: Toward discovering a new therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by various factors such as neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuronal apoptosis. Recent studies have shown that H₂S supplementation reverses neuronal loss and mitigates motor deficits in PD patients through anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, improved mitochondrial function and proautophagic. Therefore, the discovery and use of H₂S donors may be an exciting and intriguing strategy for the treatment of PD. Herein, we report a red emission mitochondria-targetable fluorescent probe, Rho-H₂S, which can specifically and sensitively detect H₂S with a limit of detection of 62.5 nM. Bioimaging experiments have shown that the probe has excellent mitochondrial targeting and good imaging capabilities for the detection of exogenous and endogenous H₂S in cells. More importantly, based on the Rho-H₂S probe, we first confirmed the sulforaphane (SFN) among 15 glucosinolate and isothiocyanate compounds from cruciferous vegetables with an outstanding ability to release H₂S and we further proved that SFN could alleviate the symptoms of PD in vivo. All results demonstrate that Rho-H₂S could be an effective tool for screening H₂S donors and can contribute to the development of new therapeutic strategies for PD.