title: BODIPY-cholesterol: a new tool to visualize sterol trafficking in living cells and organisms.
abstract: Analysis of sterol distribution and transport in living cells has been hampered by the lack of bright, photostable fluorescent sterol derivatives that closely resemble cholesterol. In this study, we employed atomistic simulations and experiments to characterize a cholesterol compound with fluorescent boron dipyrromethene difluoride linked to sterol carbon-24 (BODIPY-cholesterol). This probe packed in the membrane and behaved similarly to cholesterol both in normal and in cholesterol-storage disease cells and with trace amounts allowed the visualization of sterol movement in living systems. Upon injection into the yolk sac, BODIPY-cholesterol did not disturb zebrafish development and was targeted to sterol-enriched brain regions in live fish. We conclude that this new probe closely mimics the membrane partitioning and trafficking of cholesterol and, because of its excellent fluorescent properties, enables the direct monitoring of sterol movement by time-lapse imaging using trace amounts of the probe. This is, to our knowledge, the first cholesterol probe that fulfills these prerequisites.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedicine/Anatomy, Haartmaninkatu 8, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland.
authors.forename: Maarit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hölttä-Vuori
authors.forename: Riikka-Liisa
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Uronen
authors.forename: Jarmila
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Repakova
authors.forename: Emppu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Salonen
authors.forename: Ilpo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vattulainen
authors.forename: Pertti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Panula
authors.forename: Zaiguo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bittman
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ikonen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D001896:Boron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D016466:CHO Cells; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000737:chemistry*; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D013261:Sterols / Q000378:metabolism*; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: C095489:4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene; D001896:Boron Compounds; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D013261:Sterols; D002784:Cholesterol