Title Exploring BODIPY-Based sensor for Imaging of intracellular microviscosity in human breast cancer cells /
Authors Jurgutis, Džiugas ; Jarockytė, Greta ; Poderys, Vilius ; Dodonova-Vaitkūnienė, Jelena ; Tumkevičius, Sigitas ; Vyšniauskas, Aurimas ; Rotomskis, Ričardas ; Karabanovas, Vitalijus
DOI 10.3390/ijms23105687
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Is Part of International journal of molecular sciences.. Basel : MDPI. 2022, vol. 23, iss. 10, art. no. 5687, p. 1-17.. ISSN 1422-0067. eISSN 1422-0067
Keywords [eng] microviscosity ; molecular rotors ; fluorescence spectroscopy ; live cancer cells ; lipid droplets ; fluorescence lifetime imaging
Abstract [eng] BODIPY-based molecular rotors are highly attractive imaging tools for imaging intracellular microviscosity in living cells. In our study, we investigated the ability to detect the microviscosity of biological objects by using BDP-NO2 and BDP-H molecular rotors. We describe in detail the optical properties of BDP-NO2 and BDP-H molecular rotors in aqueous media with and without proteins, together with their accumulation dynamics and localization in live and fixed human breast cancer cells. Furthermore, we investigate the applicability of these molecules to monitor microviscosity in the organelles of human breast cancer cells by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). We demonstrate that the BDP-NO2 molecular rotor aggregates in aqueous media and is incompatible with live cell imaging. The opposite effect is observed with BDP-H which preserves its stability in aqueous media, diffuses through the plasma membrane and accumulates in lipid droplets (LDs) and the cytosol of both live and fixed MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cells. Finally, by utilizing BDP-H we demonstrate that LD microviscosity is significantly elevated in more malignant MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells, as compared to MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Our findings demonstrate that BDP-H is a water-compatible probe that can be successfully applied to measure microviscosity in the LDs of living cells.
Published Basel : MDPI
Type Journal article
Language English
Publication date 2022
CC license CC license description