Fluorescence lifetime imaging provides enhanced contrast when imaging the phase-sensitive dye di-4-ANEPPDHQ in model membranes and live cells
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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging of Molecular Rotors in Living Cells
Published on: February 9, 2012
Dylan M Owen1, Peter M P Lanigan, Christopher Dunsby
1Chemical Biology Centre, Department of Physics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. dylan.owen@imperial.ac.uk
Abstract:
We apply fluorescence lifetime imaging to the membrane phase-sensing dye di-4-ANEPPDHQ in model membranes and live cells. We show that the 1700 ps lifetime shift between liquid-disordered and liquid-ordered phases offers greater contrast than the 60 nm spectral shift previously reported. Detection of cholesterol-rich membrane microdomains is confirmed by observation of the temperature dependence of membrane order and by cholesterol depletion using methyl-beta-cyclodextrin.
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