Development of an activatable red emissive fluorescent probe for imaging hydrogen disulfide upregulation in living cells and zebrafish

• Published in: Analytica chimica acta 2022-09, Vol.1226, p.340288-340288, Article 340288
• Main Authors: Mi, Long, Lin, Bing, Jin, Jianfeng, Zhang, Haiqing, Chen, Hongwei, Cheng, Ziyi, Wu, Jinsheng, Liu, Heng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bioimaging; Fluorescent probe; Polysulfide; Red emissive
• ISSN: 0003-2670; 1873-4324
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2022.340288

As a member of reactive sulfur molecules, hydrogen polysulfide (H2Sn) plays a vital role in cell protection, anti-oxidative stress and regulation of redox signaling. The highly selective and sensitive detection of H2Sn was still challenging due to its special nucleophilic and electrophilic reactivity. By incorporating phenyl 2-(benzoylthio) benzoate into semi-naphthofluorescein, we developed a novel red emissive fluorescent probe SNAFL-H2Sn for the detection of a representative H2Sn (e. g. H2S2). The addition of H2S2 would rapidly trigger SNAFL-H2Sn to produce significant turn-on fluorescence signal changes at 626 nm with a linear response over a range of 2–30 μM and a detection limit of 16 nM. SNAFL-H2Sn was capable of mapping exogenous and endogenous H2S2 in living cells and zebrafish. Moreover, SNAFL-H2Sn was applied to detect endogenous H2S2 under atorvastatin stimulation. The present study demonstrated that SNAFL-H2Sn potentially served as a promising tool for interrogating H2Sn functions in biological systems. [Display omitted] •An activatable red emissive fluorescent probe SNAFL-H2Sn was designed for efficient detection of hydrogen disulfide.•SNAFL-H2Sn was capable of imaging hydrogen disulfide upregulation under atorvastatin stimulation in living RAW 264.7 cells.•SNAFL-H2Sn was successfully applied to monitor the level changes of hydrogen disulfide in living cells and zebrafish.