A novel zinc bis(thiosemicarbazone) complex for live cell imaging

Abstract

Fluorescent zinc complexes have recently attracted a lot of interest owing to their vast applications in cellular imaging. We report the synthesis as well as physical, chemical and biological studies of a novel zinc glyoxalbis(4-methyl-4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone), [Zn(GTSC)]₃, complex. As compared with the well-studied zinc biacetylbis(4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazone), Zn(ATSM), complex, which was used as a reference, [Zn(GTSC)]₃ had 2.5-fold higher fluorescence. When cellular fluorescence was measured using flow cytometry, we observed that [Zn(GTSC)]₃ had 3.4-fold to 12-fold higher fluorescence than Zn(ATSM) in various cell lines (n = 9) of different tissue origin. Confocal fluorescence microscopy results showed that [Zn(GTSC)]₃ appeared to have a nuclear localization within 30 min of addition to MCF7 cells. Moreover, [Zn(GTSC)]₃ showed minimal cytotoxicity compared with Zn(ATSM), suggesting that [Zn(GTSC)]₃ may be less deleterious to cells when used as an imaging agent. Our data suggest that the novel [Zn(GTSC)]₃ complex can potentially serve as a biocompatible fluorescent imaging agent for live cells.

Oxoaporphine Metal Complexes (CoII, NiII, ZnII) with High Antitumor Activity by Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis and S-phase Arrest in HepG2

“…Increasing evidence indicated that zinc(II) complexes exhibited high anticancer activity, such as zinc(II) chelated dihalo-8-quinolinol11, isoquinoline derivatives10, phthalocyanine12, thiosemicarbazone131415, and etc. In addition, Zn(II) complexes of some thiosemicarbazones possess intrinsic fluorescence, which enables the use for fluorescence imaging and further study of their mechanism of action1617 Thus, Zn(II) complexes were shown to have the potential as novel anticancer agents.…”

Reaction of anhydrous zinc chloride with 2,3-thiophenedicarbaldehyde bis(semicarbazone) (2,3BSTCH2) and bis(thiosemicarbazone) (2,3BTSTCH2): Crystal structure of {[C6H5N2S]+[ZnCl3(C6H4N2S)]−} complex

“…Coordination properties of the ligands, 2,3-thiophenedicarbaldehyde bis(semicarbazone) (2,3BST CH 2 ) and 2,3-thiophenedicarbaldehyde bis(thiosemicarbazone) (2,3BTSTCH 2 ), towards various transition metals have been previously described . On the other hand, 3-thiophenecarbaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (3TTSCH) is able to complex hydrated anhydrous zinc(II) chloride giving [ZnCl 2 (3TTSCH) 2 ] species with a typical tetrahedral geometry (Alomar et al, 2010) as usually observed with these compounds (Lobana et al, 2009;Dayal et al, 2011;Anselmo et al, 2012). In this paper, the reaction of anhydrous zinc chloride with 2,3BSTCH 2 or 2,3BTSTCH 2 affording a new complex species, Fig.…”

Deregulation of subcellular biometal homeostasis through loss of the metal transporter, Zip7, in a childhood neurodegenerative disorder

“…Primary cortical mouse neurons plated in clear bottom Costar 96 well plates (Corning, Tewksbury, MA) were treated with Zn II (atsm) [23] for 1 h, at the concentrations indicated. Cells were fixed for 15 min in 4% PFA in phosphate buffered saline (PBS), permeabilised for 10 min at -20°C with ice-cold 100% methanol, and blocked with 5% FCS and 0.03% Triton-X100 in PBS.…”