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Fluorescence Detection of Biomolecules

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Photochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 9987

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Dr. Weijiang Guan

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Guest Editor

State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Chemistry, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China
Interests: molecular spectroscopy; chemiluminescence; aggregation-induced emission; fluorescent probe; energy transfer; self-assembly

Prof. Dr. Guangle Niu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: organic dyes; AIE; fluorescent probe; bioimaging; phototherapy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomolecules, including proteins, enzymes, and DNA, play crucial roles in maintaining the essential metabolisms in biological systems. Increasing evidence indicates that abnormalities and dysfunctions of these biomolecules are closely involved in diverse biological activities and even many severe diseases, such as chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. Fluorescent probes have become a powerful tool for the detection of important molecules and biological processes because of their remarkable sensitivity, high selectivity, ease of use, and non-invasive properties. Therefore, the development of fluorescent probes for the selective detection and monitoring of these biomolecules is of particular importance to understand their roles in biological activities and diseases.

This Special Issue of Molecules aims to support the development of novel fluorescent probes with versatile functionalities and photophysical properties for the fluorescence-based detection of biomolecules, and to provide new insights to unravel their mysterious roles in biosamples. Communications, full papers and review articles are welcome in this Special Issue.

Dr. Weijiang Guan
Prof. Dr. Guangle Niu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

synthesis
fluorescent probe
detection
biomolecule
imaging
disease

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 2497 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Dynamic Volumetric Imaging of Mouse Cerebral Blood Vessels In Vivo with an Ultralong Anti-Diffracting Beam

by Yong Guo, Luwei Wang, Ziyi Luo, Yinru Zhu, Xinwei Gao, Xiaoyu Weng, Yiping Wang, Wei Yan and Junle Qu

Molecules 2023, 28(13), 4936; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28134936 - 23 Jun 2023

Viewed by 1096

Abstract

Volumetric imaging of a mouse brain in vivo with one-photon and two-photon ultralong anti-diffracting (UAD) beam illumination was performed. The three-dimensional (3D) structure of blood vessels in the mouse brain were mapped to a two-dimensional (2D) image. The speed of volumetric imaging was significantly improved due to the long focal length of the UAD beam. Comparing one-photon and two-photon UAD beam volumetric imaging, we found that the imaging depth of two-photon volumetric imaging (80 μm) is better than that of one-photon volumetric imaging (60 μm), and the signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of two-photon volumetric imaging is two times that of one-photon volumetric imaging. Therefore, we used two-photon UAD volumetric imaging to perform dynamic volumetric imaging of mouse brain blood vessels in vivo, and obtained the blood flow velocity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorescence Detection of Biomolecules)

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14 pages, 2983 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fatty Acids and Bilirubin as Intrinsic Autofluorescence Serum Biomarkers of Drug Action in a Rat Model of Liver Ischemia and Reperfusion

by Anna C. Croce, Andrea Ferrigno, Giuseppina Palladini, Barbara Mannucci, Mariapia Vairetti and Laura G. Di Pasqua

Molecules 2023, 28(9), 3818; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28093818 - 29 Apr 2023

Viewed by 1397

Abstract

The autofluorescence of specific fatty acids, retinoids, and bilirubin in crude serum can reflect changes in liver functional engagement in maintaining systemic metabolic homeostasis. The role of these fluorophores as intrinsic biomarkers of pharmacological actions has been investigated here in rats administered with obeticholic acid (OCA), a Farnesoid-X Receptor (FXR) agonist, proven to counteract the increase of serum bilirubin in hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Fluorescence spectroscopy has been applied to an assay serum collected from rats submitted to liver I/R (60/60 min ± OCA administration). The I/R group showed changes in the amplitude and profiles of emission spectra excited at 310 or 366 nm, indicating remarkable alterations in the retinoid and fluorescing fatty acid balance, with a particular increase in arachidonic acid. The I/R group also showed an increase in bilirubin AF, detected in the excitation spectra recorded at 570 nm. OCA greatly reversed the effects observed in the I/R group, confirmed by the biochemical analysis of bilirubin and fatty acids. These results are consistent with a relationship between OCA anti-inflammatory effects and the acknowledged roles of fatty acids as precursors of signaling agents mediating damaging responses to harmful stimuli, supporting serum autofluorescence analysis as a possible direct, real-time, cost-effective tool for pharmacological investigations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorescence Detection of Biomolecules)

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13 pages, 3354 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Turn-On Lipid Droplet-Targeted Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe with a Large Stokes Shift for Detection of Intracellular Carboxylesterases and Cell Viability Imaging

by Chenglin Li, Sifan Li, Xinsheng Li, Tao Yuan, Jialei Xu, Xixin Gu and Jianli Hua

Molecules 2023, 28(5), 2317; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28052317 - 02 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1740

Abstract

Carboxylesterases (CEs) play important physiological roles in the human body and are involved in numerous cellular processes. Monitoring CEs activity has great potential for the rapid diagnosis of malignant tumors and multiple diseases. Herein, we developed a new phenazine-based “turn-on” fluorescent probe DBPpys by introducing 4-bromomethyl-phenyl acetate to DBPpy, which can selectively detect CEs with a low detection limit (9.38 × 10⁻⁵ U/mL) and a large Stokes shift (more than 250 nm) in vitro. In addition, DBPpys can also be converted into DBPpy by carboxylesterase in HeLa cells and localized in lipid droplets (LDs), emitting bright near-infrared fluorescence under the irradiation of white light. Moreover, we achieved the detection of cell health status by measuring the intensity of NIR fluorescence after co-incubation of DBPpys with H₂O₂-pretreated HeLa cells, indicating that DBPpys has great potential applications for assessing CEs activity and cellular health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorescence Detection of Biomolecules)

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10 pages, 2925 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Photoluminescence Mechanism of Carbon Dots: Triggering Multiple Color Emissions through Controlling the Degree of Protonation

by Hao Yi, Jing Liu, Jian Yao, Ruixing Wang, Wenying Shi and Chao Lu

Molecules 2022, 27(19), 6517; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27196517 - 02 Oct 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1668

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs) have excellent optical properties, low toxicity and easy preparation, which have led to them being widely used in biomedicine, sensing and optical devices. However, although great progress has been made in the preparation of CDs, the detailed exploration of their photoluminescence (PL) mechanism is still under debate due to their complex structures and surface functionalities. Here, we proposed a single change in the pH of the synthesis condition, which had no effect on the CDs intrinsic core states and avoided the mutual influence of multiple PL origins. The m-phenylenediamine (m–PD) served as a carbon source, whose protonation degree determined the surface state of the resulting CDs and the accompanying fluorescence characteristics. The as-obtained CDs materials can be applied in the chemical sensor and anti-counterfeiting fields in a targeted manner. Therefore, our work not only contributes to the explanation of the CDs PL mechanism, but also obtains a series of CDs materials with controllable PL properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorescence Detection of Biomolecules)

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10 pages, 2627 KiB

Open AccessArticle

CRISPR/Cas12a Coupling with Magnetic Nanoparticles and Cascaded Strand Displacement Reaction for Ultrasensitive Fluorescence Determination of Exosomal miR-21

by Qing Liu, Jingjian Liu, Na He, Moli Zhang, Lun Wu, Xiyu Chen, Jun Zhu, Fengying Ran, Qinhua Chen and Hua Zhang

Molecules 2022, 27(16), 5338; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27165338 - 22 Aug 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2162

Abstract

Exosomal MicroRNA-21 (miRNA-21, miR-21) is significantly up-regulated in blood samples of patients with lung cancer. Exosomal-derived miR-21 can be used as a promising biomarker for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. This paper develops a fluorescent biosensor based on the combination of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), cascade strand displacement reaction (CSDR) and CRISPR/Cas12a to detect the exosomal miR-21 from lung cancer. The powerful separation performance of MNPs can eliminate the potential interference of matrix and reduce the background signal, which is very beneficial for the improvement of specificity and sensitivity. The CSDR can specifically transform one miR-21 into plenty of DNA which can specifically trigger the trans-cleavage nuclease activity of Cas12a, resulting in the cleavage of ssDNA bi-labeled with fluorescent and a quencher. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the developed fluorescence biosensor exhibited high sensitivity and specificity towards the determination of exosomal-derived miR-21 with a linear range from 10 to 1 × 10⁵ fM and a low detection limit of about 0.89 fM. Most importantly, this method can be successfully applied to distinguish the exosomal miR-21 from the lung cancer patients and the healthy people. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorescence Detection of Biomolecules)

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Review

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17 pages, 6412 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Advances in Fluorescent Probes for Cancer Biomarker Detection

by Mingce Tian, Riliga Wu, Caihong Xiang, Guangle Niu and Weijiang Guan

Molecules 2024, 29(5), 1168; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29051168 - 06 Mar 2024

Viewed by 1035

Abstract

Many important biological species have been identified as cancer biomarkers and are gradually becoming reliable targets for early diagnosis and late therapeutic evaluation of cancer. However, accurate quantitative detection of cancer biomarkers remains challenging due to the complexity of biological systems and the diversity of cancer development. Fluorescent probes have been extensively utilized for identifying biological substances due to their notable benefits of being non-invasive, quickly responsive, highly sensitive and selective, allowing real-time visualization, and easily modifiable. This review critiques fluorescent probes used for detecting and imaging cancer biomarkers over the last five years. Focuses are made on the design strategies of small-molecule and nano-sized fluorescent probes, the construction methods of fluorescence sensing and imaging platforms, and their further applications in detection of multiple biomarkers, including enzymes, reactive oxygen species, reactive sulfur species, and microenvironments. This review aims to guide the design and development of excellent cancer diagnostic fluorescent probes, and promote the broad application of fluorescence analysis in early cancer diagnosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fluorescence Detection of Biomolecules)

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