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Updated: Nov 1, 2025
Fluorescence Microscopy for ATP Internalization Mediated by Macropinocytosis in Human Tumor Cells and Tumor-xenografted Mice
Published on: June 30, 2021
Ex vivo and in vivo fluorescence detection and imaging of adenosine triphosphate
Binbin Chu1, Ajun Wang2, Liang Cheng1
1Laboratory of Nanoscale Biochemical Analysis, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
Background:
Ex vivo and in vivo detection and imaging of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is critically important for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, which still remains challenges up to present.
Results:
We herein demonstrate that ATP could be fluorescently detected and imaged ex vivo and in vivo. In particular, we fabricate a kind of fluorescent ATP probes, which are made of titanium carbide (TC) nanosheets modified with the ROX-tagged ATP-aptamer (TC/Apt). In the constructed TC/Apt, TC shows superior quenching efficiency against ROX (e.g., ~ 97%). While in the presence of ATP, ROX-tagged aptamer is released from TC surface, leading to the recovery of fluorescence of ROX under the 545-nm excitation. Consequently, a wide dynamic range from 1 μM to 1.5 mM ATP and a high sensitivity with a limit of detection (LOD) down to 0.2 μM ATP can be readily achieved by the prepared TC/Apt. We further demonstrate that the as-prepared TC/Apt probe is feasible for accurate discrimination of ATP in different samples including living cells, body fluids (e.g., mouse serum, mouse urine and human serum) and mouse tumor models.
Conclusions:
Fluorescence detection and imaging of ATP could be readily achieved in living cells, body fluids (e.g., urine and serum), as well as mouse tumor model through a new kind of fluorescent ATP nanoprobes, offering new powerful tools for the treatment of diseases related to abnormal fluctuation of ATP concentration.
