An ultrasensitive near-infrared ratiometric fluorescent probe for imaging mitochondrial polarity in live cells and in vivo

Mitochondrial polarity is a crucial characteristic of these indispensable organelles, and tremendously impacts cellular events. Herein, we describe a new mitochondria-targeting fluorescent probe MCY-BF(2) that is singularly sensitive and specifically responsive to mitochondrial polarity. The pull–push system in the conjugated structure of MCY-BF(2) is responsible for the polarity-ultrasensitivity due to the excited state intramolecular charge transfer (ICT). By combining with cardiolipin, MCY-BF(2) preferentially accumulates in mitochondria. Because the fluorescence emission wavelengths exhibit an obvious red-shift with increasing media polarity, the fluorescence intensity ratio at two different wavelengths versus the solvent dielectric constant can quantify the mitochondrial polarity. Experimental results demonstrate that the fluorescent intensity of MCY-BF(2) in a non-polar solvent, dioxane, is 120 times higher than that in a polar solvent, dimethyl sulfoxide. As the first near-infrared (NIR) and most sensitive fluorescent imaging probe for polarity, MCY-BF(2) can locate exclusively in mitochondria in various cells and discriminate polarity differences between normal and cancer cells. Also, the intrinsic polarity variance at different developmental stages in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was reported here for the first time. Interestingly, the embryonic development stage has a more non-polar environment with a dielectric constant of 7.20, and in contrast the polarity at the young adult stage changes to 10.07. In addition, in vivo imaging results suggest that the tumor tissues of mice have an obviously lower polarity than that in normal tissues. Altogether, the merits of the NIR property, high sensitivity and moderate Stokes shift all greatly promote the accuracy of imaging. This probe will be a promising tool for studying biological processes and the pathological mechanism of polarity-related diseases.