Unveiling autophagy and aging through time-resolved imaging of lysosomal polarity with a delayed fluorescent emitter

Detecting the lysosomal microenvironmental changes like viscosity, pH, and polarity during their dynamic interorganelle interactions remains an intriguing area that facilitates the elucidation of cellular homeostasis. The subtle variation of physiological conditions can be assessed by deciphering th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical science (Cambridge) 2023-12, Vol.15 (1), p.12-112
Main Authors: Das, Subhadeep, Batra, Abhilasha, Kundu, Subhankar, Sharma, Rati, Patra, Abhijit
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological activity
Chemistry
Emitters
Fluorescent indicators
Homeostasis
Imaging
Lysosomes
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Summary:Detecting the lysosomal microenvironmental changes like viscosity, pH, and polarity during their dynamic interorganelle interactions remains an intriguing area that facilitates the elucidation of cellular homeostasis. The subtle variation of physiological conditions can be assessed by deciphering the lysosomal microenvironments during lysosome-organelle interactions, closely related to autophagic pathways leading to various cellular disorders. Herein, we shed light on the dynamic lysosomal polarity in live cells and a multicellular model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans ( C. elegans ), through time-resolved imaging employing a thermally activated delayed fluorescent probe, DC-Lyso. The highly photostable and cytocompatible DC-Lyso rapidly labels the lysosomes (within 1 min of incubation) and exhibits red luminescence and polarity-sensitive long lifetime under the cellular environment. The distinct variation in the fluorescence lifetime of DC-Lyso suggests an increase in local polarity during the lysosomal dynamics and interorganelle interactions, including lipophagy and mitophagy. The lifetime imaging analysis reveals increasing lysosomal polarity as an indicator for probing the successive development of C. elegans during aging. The in vivo microsecond timescale imaging of various cancerous cell lines and C. elegans , as presented here, therefore, expands the scope of delayed fluorescent emitters for unveiling complex biological processes. A TADF-emitter was employed to unveil the lysosomal polarity variations during interorganelle interactions and was demonstrated as an indicator to probe complex biological processes like aging through intracellular lifetime imaging.
ISSN:2041-6520
2041-6539
DOI:10.1039/d3sc02450d