Rational Design of Orange-Red Emissive Carbon Dots for Tracing Lysosomal Viscosity Dynamics in Living Cells and Zebrafish

作者：Jian‐Hua Guo, Li Fan, Qi Zan, Jianhua Wang, Zhenhua Yang, Wenjing Lu, Yongming Yang, Xihua Yang, Chuan Dong, Shaomin Shuang · 发表于：Analytical Chemistry · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1021/acs.analchem.3c02381 · 被引用次数：19 · 研究领域：Carbon and Quantum Dots Applications、Calcium signaling and nucleotide metabolism、Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques

Lysosomal viscosity is an essential microenvironment parameter in lysosomes, which is closely associated to the occurrence and development of various diseases, including cancer. Thus, accurately quantifying lysosomal viscosity changes is highly desirable for a better understanding of the dynamics and biological functions of lysosomes. In this study, lysosome self-targetable orange-red emissive carbon dots (OR-CDs) were rationally designed and developed for monitoring lysosomal viscosity fluctuations. The enhanced fluorescence of OR-CDs could be obviously observed as the viscosity increased from 1.07 to 950 cP. Moreover, the as-prepared OR-CDs could quickly enter cells for lysosome-targeting imaging and visualize viscosity variations in living cells and zebrafish. More importantly, by utilizing OR-CDs, we successfully achieved tracing the variations in lysosomal viscosity during the autophagy process. Additionally, as cancer cells possess high viscosity than normal cells, the OR-CDs have been effectively utilized for cancer imaging from cell, tissue, and organ to in vivo levels. It is expected that the developed OR-CDs not only provide a meaningful tool for visualizing investigations of lysosome viscosity-related diseases but also shed light on the development based on the nanomaterial for the clinical diagnosis of cancer.