Bright Zinc Probes with Thiomorpholine Monoxide Auxochromes for Imaging Insulin Secretion
Zinc biology significantly impacts human physiological and pathological processes, especially for β-cell endocrinology. In 2021, our group reported the <b>PKZnR</b> family with minimal phototoxicity and μM affinities for monitoring Zn<sup>2+</sup>/insulin corelease during vesicular secretory events on β-cells (Zhang et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2021, 60 (49), 25846-25855). Here, we synthesized a series of Zn<sup>2+</sup> probes (<b>PKZnBR</b>) featuring thiomorpholine monoxide auxochromes with <i>K</i> <sub>d</sub> values ranging from 160 nM to 94 μM. By inhibiting the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state, the fluorescence quantum yields of <b>PKZnBRs</b> can be effectively increased to ∼7 times those of <b>PKZnRs</b>. A privileged candidate, <b>PKZnBR-3</b>, has a high turn-on ratio (∼134), appropriate affinity (340 nM), and excellent hydrophilicity, making it a powerful tool for long-term <i>ex vivo</i> recording of insulin secretion in mouse islets with minimal phototoxicity.
Authors
- Xiaohong Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9043-5603)
- Zhixing Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5962-7359)
- Junwei Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3857-3205)
- Rundong Yu
Institutions
- Shenzhen University (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN)
- Institute of Molecular Medicine (IN)
- Center for Life Sciences (CN)
- Imaging Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Chemical & Biomedical Imaging
- Published
- 2025-03-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/cbmi.4c00116
- Primary Topic
- Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation
- National Key Research and Development Program of China