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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Visualization of Endoplasmic Reticulum Subdomains in Cultured Cells
Published on: February 18, 2014
A triarylboron-based binuclear Zn(II) complex as a two-photon fluorescent probe for simultaneous multicolor imaging
Jun Liu1, Shilu Zhang1, Jiang Zhu1
1Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College & Department of Chemistry, School of Preclinical Medicine, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, Sichuan, China.
Abstract:
The visualization of subcellular structures is critical for understanding their intracellular function. We prepared two triarylboron-based multinuclear Zn2+ complexes, TAB-1-3Zn2+ and TAB-2-2Zn2+, which can be used as fluorescent probes for nucleoside polyphosphate (NPP) and RNA because their multi Zn2+ center can selectively combine with the phosphate side chain of NPP or RNA, accompanied by a corresponding fluorescence change. Among them, TAB-2-2Zn2+ is more suitable than TAB-1-3Zn2+ for live cell imaging because of its excellent cell membrane permeability resulting from amphiphilicity. Since the various membrane structures in cells are also composed of phosphoric acid bilayers, TAB-2-2Zn2+ may also be used to image various membrane structures. Various colocalization experiments further confirmed that TAB-2-2Zn2+ can achieve clear simultaneous imaging of the cell membrane, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the nucleolus. Graphical abstract.
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