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Molecules
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Probes for Detection, Sensing and Imaging
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Probes for Detection, Sensing and Imaging

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 17968

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Run Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
Interests: analytical chemistry; biosensing and bioimaging; photochemistry; nanotechnology; nano-bio interface chemistry; nanobiosensors; theranostic nanomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. D. Amilan Jose

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Kurukshetra, Kurukshetra 136119, India
Interests: biosensors; chemosensors; gasotransmitter delivery; colorimetric sensors; nano vesicles
Prof. Dr. Hang Thu Ta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environment and Science and Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Interests: nanomedicine; molecular imaging; targeted delivery; theranostics; cardiovascular disease; inflammatory diseases; cancer; bleeding treatment
Prof. Dr. Mingqian Tan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Academy of Food Interdisciplinary Science, Dalian Polytechnic University, Qinggongyuan1, Ganjingzi District, Dalian 116034, China
Interests: delivery systems; food nanotechnology; marine food; food functional factor; precision nutrition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advances of chemical and biomedical studies have catalysed the development of new probes for precise and accurate detecting, sensing and imaging of specific molecules in biological, environmental and food systems. In biological investigations, the probes enable the sensing and imaging of the physiological and pathological roles of invisible biomarkers in cells, tissues and organisms, thus contributing to early diagnosis of various diseases, such as inflammatory disorders, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. They can also facilitate drug development and studies on biological mechanisms by offering monitoring of drug trafficking in the body and molecular events in living organisms. In environmental and food systems, probes are particular useful for the detection of pathogens, toxic molecules, heavy metal ions, anions, etc. The rapid progress of probe development and its applications in various research fields have caused us to organise this Special Issue to exchange research outcomes and ideas.

This Special Issue, to be published in Molecules, focuses on the most recent investigative advances in probes for detecting, sensing and imaging. Contributions including but not limited to original research papers, up-to-date reviews, and technique reports of the following and related topics are invited:

  • Design, preparation and characterisation of probes;
  • Molecule and/or nanomaterial based probes;
  • Fundamental mechanisms for probes development;
  • Probes for biological, environmental and analytical applications;
  • Types of probes;
  • Probes for molecular imaging/detection of diseases;
  • Analytical tools for detection and bioimaging;
  • Probe applications in food safety detection;
  • Probes for food functional components tracking;
  • Synthesis and application of probes derived from food components.

Dr. Run Zhang
Dr D. Amilan Jose
Dr. Hang Thu Ta
Prof. Mingqian Tan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Chemosensors
  • Biosensors
  • Bio-imaging
  • Nanoprobes
  • Detection methods
  • Optical probes
  • MRI probes
  • CT probes
  • PET probes
  • Food-borne probes
  • Molecular imaging

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 3586 KiB  
Article
A Redox-Switchable Colorimetric Probe for “Naked-Eye” Detection of Hypochlorous Acid and Glutathione
by Qian Han, Fang Zhou, Yue Wang, Huan Feng, Qingtao Meng, Zhiqiang Zhang and Run Zhang
Molecules 2019, 24(13), 2455; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24132455 - 04 Jul 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3856
Abstract
We report the development of a new colorimetric probe (L-ol) for investigations of the redox process regulated by hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and glutathione (GSH). The HOCl/GSH redox-switching cycle process was investigated in detail by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, colorimetric analysis assay and [...] Read more.
We report the development of a new colorimetric probe (L-ol) for investigations of the redox process regulated by hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and glutathione (GSH). The HOCl/GSH redox-switching cycle process was investigated in detail by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, colorimetric analysis assay and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS). The switchable absorbance responses were attributed to the HOCl-induced oxidation of the p-methoxyphenol unit to the benzoquinone derivative (L-one) and sequential reduction of L-one to hydroquinone (L-ol’) by GSH. In phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer, the absorbance of L-ol at 619 nm underwent a remarkable bathochromic-shift, accompanied by a color change from pale yellow to blue in the presence of HOCl. With further addition of GSH, the absorbance of L-one exclusively recovered to the original level. Meanwhile, the blue-colored solution returned to the naive pale yellow color in the presence of GSH. The detection limits for HOCl and GSH were calculated to be 6.3 and 96 nM according to the IUPAC criteria. Furthermore, L-ol-loaded chromatography plates have been prepared and successfully applied to visualize and quantitatively analyze HOCl in several natural waters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Probes for Detection, Sensing and Imaging)
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27 pages, 1797 KiB  
Article
Design, Synthesis, and Biological Application of Novel Photoaffinity Probes of Dihydropyridine Derivatives, BAY R3401
by Liying Zhang, Zhiwei Yan, Youde Wang, Chengjun Song and Guangxin Miao
Molecules 2019, 24(13), 2394; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24132394 - 28 Jun 2019
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2550
Abstract
To explore the molecular mechanisms of BAY R3401, four types of novel photoaffinity probes bearing different secondary tags were synthesized. Their potency for glycogenolysis was evaluated in primary human liver HL-7702 cells and HepG2 cells. Probe 2d showed the best activity in primary [...] Read more.
To explore the molecular mechanisms of BAY R3401, four types of novel photoaffinity probes bearing different secondary tags were synthesized. Their potency for glycogenolysis was evaluated in primary human liver HL-7702 cells and HepG2 cells. Probe 2d showed the best activity in primary human liver HL-7702 cells and HepG2 cells, with IC50 values of 4.45 μM and 28.49 μM, respectively. Likewise, probe 5d showed IC50 values of 6.46 μM in primary human liver HL-7702 cells and 15.29 μM in HepG2 cells, respectively. Photoaffinity labeling experiments were also performed and protein bands larger than 170 kDa were specifically tagged by probe 2d. The results suggest that the synthesized probe 2d might be a very promising tool for the isolation of the target proteins of BAY R3401. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Probes for Detection, Sensing and Imaging)
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10 pages, 2210 KiB  
Article
A Novel Ratiometric Fluorescent Probe for Mercury (II) ions and Application in Bio-imaging
by Qianmiao Gao, Yang Jiao, Cheng He and Chunying Duan
Molecules 2019, 24(12), 2268; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24122268 - 18 Jun 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3249
Abstract
Since the accumulation of mercury (II) ions in the environment and ecosystem causes serious problems to environment and disease, the recognition of Hg2+ ions and its bio-imaging is of high importance. In sight of the advantages of fluorescence probes, a new probe [...] Read more.
Since the accumulation of mercury (II) ions in the environment and ecosystem causes serious problems to environment and disease, the recognition of Hg2+ ions and its bio-imaging is of high importance. In sight of the advantages of fluorescence probes, a new probe (PMH) was facilely synthesized by incorporating phenylimidazole fluorophore and 3-methyl-2- benzothiazolinone hydrazone hydrochloride monohydrate. The PMH probe exhibited a ratiometric response for Hg2+ ions with fluorescence intensity increasing at 520 nm and decreasing at 445 nm simultaneously. The PMH probe interacted with Hg2+ ions in seconds with high optical stability and showed good selectivity over other metal ions. In addition, the probe has excellent biocompatibility and imaging performance in cells and zebrafish. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Probes for Detection, Sensing and Imaging)
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16 pages, 5195 KiB  
Article
Time-Gated Luminescent In Situ Hybridization (LISH): Highly Sensitive Detection of Pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus
by Nima Sayyadi, Russell E. Connally, Thomas S. Lawson, Jingli Yuan, Nicolle H. Packer and James A. Piper
Molecules 2019, 24(11), 2083; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24112083 - 31 May 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3384
Abstract
We describe simple direct conjugation of a single TEGylated Europium chelate to DNA that binds to intracellular rRNA and is then detected using a homogeneous luminescent in situ hybridisation (LISH) technique. As a proof-of-principle, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was selected as a model [...] Read more.
We describe simple direct conjugation of a single TEGylated Europium chelate to DNA that binds to intracellular rRNA and is then detected using a homogeneous luminescent in situ hybridisation (LISH) technique. As a proof-of-principle, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was selected as a model for our study to show the ability of this probe to bind to intracellular 16S ribosomal rRNA. A highly purified Europium chelate conjugated oligonucleotide probe complementary to an rRNA sequence-specific S. aureus was prepared and found to be soluble and stable in aqueous solution. The probe was able to bind specifically to S. aureus via in situ hybridisation to differentiate S. aureus from a closely related but less pathogenic Staphylococcus species (S. epidermidis). A time-gated luminescent (TGL) microscope system was used to generate the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) images of the S. aureus. After excitation (365 nm, Chelate λmax = 335 nm), the long-lived (Eu3+) luminescent emission from the probe was detected without interference from natural background autofluorescence typically seen in biological samples. The luminescent images were found to have 6 times higher SNR or sensitivity compared to the fluorescent images using conventional fluorophore Alexa Fluor 488. The TEGylated Europium chelate -oligo probe stained S. aureus with mean signal intensity 3.5 times higher than the threshold level of signal from S. epidermidis (with SNR 8 times higher). A positive control probe (EUB338–BHHTEGST–Eu3+) has mean signal intensity for S. aureus and S. epidermidis equally 3.2 times higher than the threshold of signal for a negative NON-EUB338 control probe. The direct conjugation of a single Europium chelate to DNA provides simplicity and improvement over existing bovine serum albumin (BSA)/streptavidin/biotinylated DNA platforms for multi-attachment of Europium chelate per DNA and more importantly makes it feasible for hybridisation to intracellular RNA targets. This probe has great potential for highly sensitive homogeneous in situ hybridisation detection of the vast range of intracellular DNA targets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Probes for Detection, Sensing and Imaging)
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Review

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13 pages, 5036 KiB  
Review
Ultrafast Fluorescence Spectroscopy via Upconversion and Its Applications in Biophysics
by Simin Cao, Haoyang Li, Zenan Zhao, Sanjun Zhang, Jinquan Chen, Jianhua Xu, Jay R. Knutson and Ludwig Brand
Molecules 2021, 26(1), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26010211 - 03 Jan 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4142
Abstract
In this review, the experimental set-up and functional characteristics of single-wavelength and broad-band femtosecond upconversion spectrophotofluorometers developed in our laboratory are described. We discuss applications of this technique to biophysical problems, such as ultrafast fluorescence quenching and solvation dynamics of tryptophan, peptides, proteins, [...] Read more.
In this review, the experimental set-up and functional characteristics of single-wavelength and broad-band femtosecond upconversion spectrophotofluorometers developed in our laboratory are described. We discuss applications of this technique to biophysical problems, such as ultrafast fluorescence quenching and solvation dynamics of tryptophan, peptides, proteins, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), and nucleic acids. In the tryptophan dynamics field, especially for proteins, two types of solvation dynamics on different time scales have been well explored: ~1 ps for bulk water, and tens of picoseconds for “biological water”, a term that combines effects of water and macromolecule dynamics. In addition, some proteins also show quasi-static self-quenching (QSSQ) phenomena. Interestingly, in our more recent work, we also find that similar mixtures of quenching and solvation dynamics occur for the metabolic cofactor NADH. In this review, we add a brief overview of the emerging development of fluorescent RNA aptamers and their potential application to live cell imaging, while noting how ultrafast measurement may speed their optimization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Probes for Detection, Sensing and Imaging)
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