Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 25, 2025
Detection of Mitochondria Membrane Potential to Study CLIC4 Knockdown-induced HN4 Cell Apoptosis In Vitro
Published on: July 17, 2018
Investigation of apoptosis based on fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy with a mitochondria-targeted viscosity
Gengjin Zou1, Wenhui Yu1, Yunjian Xu1
1Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Guangdong Province, Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University China liulw@szu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Cell apoptosis detection based on the functionality changes of cellular organelles, such as mitochondria, offers a quantitative method compared to morphology-based detection. However, the conventional detection methods for potential variation of the mitochondrial membrane based on fluorescence spectrum changes cannot offer a precise quantification of the degree of apoptosis. Here, a mitochondria-targeted two-photon viscosity probe (TPA-Mit), which sensitively responds to viscosity variations with fluorescence lifetime changes, is designed to detect the viscosity of mitochondria. Noteworthily, the proposed phasor fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (phasor-FLIM) allows for more precise quantification (in terms of smaller uncertainty) when estimating the degree of apoptosis with a microviscosity probe. The experimental results of SKOV-3 cells show that the fluorescence lifetime of mitochondria-targeted TPA-Mit increased from 550 ps to 800 ps after 24 hours of paclitaxel (PTX)-induced apoptosis. We believe that our method provides a new means for the measurement of cellular microviscosity and apoptosis monitoring at early stages.
