Conspectus
This Account describes a range of strategies for the development
of fluorescent probes for detecting reactive oxygen species (ROS),
reactive nitrogen species (RNS), and reactive (redox-active) sulfur
species (RSS). Many ROS/RNS have been implicated in pathological processes
such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular
disease, and aging, while many RSS play important roles in maintaining
redox homeostasis, serving as antioxidants and acting as free radical
scavengers. Fluorescence-based systems have emerged as one of the
best ways to monitor the concentrations and locations of these often
very short lived species. Because of the high levels of sensitivity
and in particular their ability to be used for temporal and spatial
sampling for in vivo imaging applications. As a direct result, there
has been a huge surge in the development of fluorescent probes for
sensitive and selective detection of ROS, RNS, and RSS within cellular
environments. However, cellular environments are extremely complex,
often with more than one species involved in a given biochemical process.
As a result, there has been a rise in the development of dual-responsive
fluorescent probes (AND-logic probes) that can monitor the presence
of more than one species in a biological environment. Our aim with
this Account is to introduce the fluorescent probes that we have developed
for in vitro and in vivo measurement of ROS, RNS, and RSS. Fluorescence-based
sensing mechanisms used in the construction of the probes include
photoinduced electron transfer, intramolecular charge transfer, excited-state
intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), and fluorescence resonance
energy transfer. In particular, probes for hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorous
acid, superoxide, peroxynitrite, glutathione, cysteine, homocysteine,
and hydrogen sulfide are discussed. In addition, we describe the development
of AND-logic-based systems capable of detecting two species, such
as peroxynitrite and glutathione. One of the most interesting advances
contained in this Account is our extension of indicator displacement
assays (IDAs) to reaction-based indicator displacement assays (RIAs).
In an IDA system, an indicator is allowed to bind reversibly to a
receptor. Then a competitive analyte is introduced into the system,
resulting in displacement of the indicator from the host, which in
turn modulates the optical signal. With an RIA-based system, the indicator
is cleaved from a preformed receptor–indicator complex rather
than being displaced by the analyte. Nevertheless, without a doubt
the most significant result contained in this Account is the use of
an ESIPT-based probe for the simultaneous sensing of fibrous proteins/peptides
AND environmental ROS/RNS.