Fluorescent Imaging for Cysteine Detection In Vivo with High Selectivity

As an essential amino acid, cysteine is involved in various biosynthetic and metabolic processes, such as protein synthesis, hormone synthesis, and redox homeostatic maintenance. Inordinate cysteine levels are often associated with serious diseases. Thus, designing and synthesizing a novel fluorescent probe for determining the concentration of cellular cysteine, which could indirectly monitor the prevalence of these diseases, is essential. We developed a florescence probe P−Cy with good sensitivity for cysteine detection in vivo. P−Cy only exhibited good response toward cysteine but did not show response toward other biothiols, such as homocysteine (Hcy) and glutathione (GSH). In this study, we used P−Cy by successfully imaging cellular endogenous and exogenous cysteine levels. Furthermore, P−Cy was also performed in mice to detect cysteine level, indicating that P−Cy is a powerful tool for cysteine detection in situ.