Carbon-dot-based ratiometric fluorescent probe for imaging and biosensing of superoxide anion in live cells

Anal Chem. 2014 Jul 15;86(14):7071-8. doi: 10.1021/ac501499y. Epub 2014 Jun 27.

Abstract

In this article, a ratiometric fluorescent biosensor for O2(•-) was developed, by employing carbon dots (C-Dots) as the reference fluorophore and hydroethidine (HE), a specific organic molecule toward O2(•-), playing the role as both specific recognition element and response signal. The hybrid fluorescent probe CD-HE only emitted at 525 nm is ascribed to C-Dots, while HE was almost nonfluorescent, upon excitation at 488 nm. However, after reaction with O2(•-), a new emission peak ascribed to the reaction products of HE and O2(•-) was clearly observed at 610 nm. Meanwhile, this peak gradually increased with the increasing concentration of O2(•-) but the emission peak at 525 nm stayed constant, leading to a ratiometric detection of O2(•-). The inorganic-organic fluorescent sensor exhibited high sensitivity, a broad dynamic linear range of ~5 × 10(-7)-1.4 × 10(-4) M, and low detection limit down to 100 nM. The present probe also showed high accuracy and excellent selectivity for O2(•-) over other reactive oxygen species (ROS), metal ions, and so on. Moreover, the C-Dot-based inorganic-organic probe demonstrated long-term stability against pH changes and continuous light illumination, good cell-permeability, and low cytotoxicity. Accordingly, the developed fluorescent biosensor was eventually applied for intracellular bioimaging and biosensing of O2(•-) changes upon oxidative stress.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods*
  • Carbon
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
  • Fluorescent Dyes / toxicity
  • HeLa Cells / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Limit of Detection
  • Molecular Imaging / methods*
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Phenanthridines / chemistry
  • Quantum Dots / chemistry
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / analysis
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • Superoxides / analysis*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Phenanthridines
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Superoxides
  • hydroethidine
  • Carbon