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Updated: Aug 5, 2026
Real Time Monitoring of Intracellular Bile Acid Dynamics Using a Genetically Encoded FRET-based Bile Acid Sensor
Published on: January 4, 2016
Lipid-Targeting Multiresponsive Benzothiadiazole Fluorophore for Live-Cell Imaging and Real-Time Liver Injury
Brenno A D Neto1,2, Fabiano S Rodembusch3, Jose Raimundo Correa1
1University of Brasília, Chemistry Institute (IQ-UnB), Laboratory of Medicinal and Technological Chemistry, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasília, Distrito Federal 70910-900, Brazil.
Abstract:
This work describes the multiresponsive photophysical behavior of BTD-4AS, a donor-acceptor benzothiadiazole fluorophore. BTD-4AS shows pronounced solvatochromism, viscosity- and temperature-dependent emission, and large Stokes shifts, consistent with a twisted intramolecular charge transfer state supported by Lippert-Mataga and Reichardt analyses. Its fluorescence is strongly pH-sensitive (maximum near pH ≈6-8) and markedly enhanced in micellar and viscous media. The dye's photostability and lipophilicity support its use as a versatile probe for polarity, viscosity, pH, and lipid-rich environments. Building on these properties, BTD-4AS enables selective cellular bioimaging of lipid droplets and, in a mouse model, reports liver injury through polarity/viscosity-dependent spectral shiftsred emission in damaged regions exposed to extracellular milieu and green emission in intact lipid-rich cells.
