Mitochondrial functions are heavily influenced by acid–base
homeostasis. Hence, elucidation of the mitochondrial pH is essential
in living cells, and its alterations during pathologies is an interesting
question to be addressed. Small molecular fluorescent probes are progressively
applied to quantify the mitochondrial pH by fluorescence imaging.
Herein, we designed a unique small molecular fluorescent probe, PM-Mor-OH, based on the lipophilic morpholine ligand-conjugated
pyridinium derivative of “IndiFluors”. The morpholine-conjugated
fluorescent probe usually localized the lysosome. However, herein,
we observed unusual phenomena of morpholine-tagged PM-Mor-OH that localized mitochondria explicitly. The morpholine ligand also
plays a pivotal role in tuning optical properties via photoinduced
electron transfer (PET) during internal pH alteration (ΔpHi).
In the mitophagy process, lysosomes engulf damaged mitochondria, leading
to ΔpHi, which can be monitored using our probe. It exhibited
“ratiometric” emission at single wavelength excitation
(ex. 488) and is suitable for monitoring and quantifying the ΔpHi
using confocal microscope high-resolution image analysis during mitophagy.
The bathochromic emission shifts due to intramolecular charge transfer
(ICT) in basic pH were well explained by the time-dependent density
functional theory (TD-DFT/PCM). Similarly, the change in the emission
ratio (green/red) with pH variations was also validated by the PET
process. In addition, PM-Mor-OH can quantify the pH change
during oxidative stress induced by rapamycin, mutant A53T α-synuclein-mediated
protein misfolding stress in mitochondria, and during starvation.
Rapamycin-induced mitophagy was further elucidated by the translocation
of mCherry Parkin to damaged mitochondria, which well correlates with
our probe. Thus, PM-Mito-OH is a valuable probe for visualizing
mitophagy and can act as a suitable tool for the diagnosis of mitochondrial
diseases.