PUBLICATION

Iridium(III) Anthraquinone Complexes as Two-Photon Phosphorescence Probes for Mitochondria Imaging and Tracking under Hypoxia

Authors
Sun, L., Chen, Y., Kuang, S., Li, G., Guan, R., Liu, J., Ji, L., Chao, H.
ID
ZDB-PUB-160505-1
Date
2016
Source
Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)   22(26): 8955-65 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Chen, Yu
Keywords
biological activity, hypoxia, imaging agents, iridium, photochemistry
MeSH Terms
  • A549 Cells
  • Animals
  • Anthraquinones/chemistry*
  • Brain/metabolism
  • Brain/pathology
  • Cell Hypoxia*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Survival/drug effects
  • Coordination Complexes/chemistry*
  • Coordination Complexes/metabolism
  • Coordination Complexes/toxicity
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional
  • Iridium/chemistry*
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton
  • Microsomes, Liver/metabolism
  • Mitochondria/metabolism
  • Mitochondria/pathology*
  • Rats
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • Spheroids, Cellular/cytology
  • Spheroids, Cellular/metabolism
  • Zebrafish/metabolism
PubMed
27145442 Full text @ Chemistry
Abstract
In the present study, four mitochondria-specific and two-photon phosphorescence iridium(III) complexes, Ir1-Ir4, were developed for mitochondria imaging in hypoxic tumor cells. The iridium(III) complex has two anthraquinone groups that are hypoxia-sensitive moieties. The phosphorescence of the iridium(III) complex was quenched by the functions of the intramolecular quinone unit, and it was restored through two-electron bioreduction under hypoxia. When the probes were reduced by reductase to hydroquinone derivative products under hypoxia, a significant enhancement in phosphorescence intensity was observed under one- (λ=405 nm) and two-photon (λ=720 nm) excitation, with a two-photon absorption cross section of 76-153 GM at λ=720 nm. More importantly, these probes possessed excellent specificity for mitochondria, which allowed imaging and tracking of the mitochondrial morphological changes in a hypoxic environment over a long period of time. Moreover, the probes can visualize hypoxic mitochondria in 3D multicellular spheroids and living zebrafish through two-photon phosphorescence imaging.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping