Highly Sensitive Naphthalene-Based Two-Photon Fluorescent Probe for in Situ Real-Time Bioimaging of Ultratrace Cyclooxygenase-2 in Living Biosystems

TLDR: An "off-on" fluorescence probe (BTDAN-COX-2), able to report and image the presence of ultratrace cyclooxygenase-2 in living biosystems, has been designed and evaluated.

Abstract: Detecting and imaging of ultratrace cyclooxygenase-2 in living biosystems could provide much important valuable information for the diagnosis and intervention of cancer. Molecular probes, whose fluorescent signals are generated by cyclooxygenase-2, hold great potential for identification and enumeration of cyclooxygenase-2 in living biosystems. Although quite a few fluorescent probes have been reported for cyclooxygenase-2, the use fluorogenic probe with the excellent two-photon properties for the determination of ultratrace cyclooxygenase-2 has been scarce. Herein, an “off–on” fluorescence probe (BTDAN-COX-2), able to report and image the presence of ultratrace cyclooxygenase-2 in living biosystems, has been designed and evaluated. In order to improve sensitivity and specific selectivity of probe for ultratrace cyclooxygenase-2, BTDAN-COX-2 employed cyclooxygenase-2’s inhibitor as recognition group, because it is a classical and efficient recognition group for cyclooxygenase-2. A polarity-sensitive napht...