title: Theranostic iridium(III) complexes as one- and two-photon phosphorescent trackers to monitor autophagic lysosomes.
abstract: During autophagy, the intracellular components are captured in autophagosomes and delivered to lysosomes for degradation and recycling. Changes in lysosomal trafficking and contents are key events in the regulation of autophagy, which has been implicated in many physiological and pathological processes. In this work, two iridium(III) complexes (LysoIr1 and LysoIr2) are developed as theranostic agents to monitor autophagic lysosomes. These complexes display lysosome-activated phosphorescence and can specifically label lysosomes with high photostability. Simultaneously, they can induce autophagy potently without initiating an apoptosis response. We demonstrate that LysoIr2 can effectively implement two functions, namely autophagy induction and lysosomal tracking, in the visualization of autophagosomal-lysosomal fusion. More importantly, they display strong two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF), which is favorable for live cell imaging and in vivo applications.
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Cai-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Rui-Rong
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Yi-Zhi
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ya-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Liang-Nian
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Zong-Wan
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Mao
mesh_terms: D001343:Autophagy; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007495:Iridium / Q000737:chemistry*; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D017785:Photons; D066244:Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D007495:Iridium
keywords: autophagy; bioinorganic chemistry; iridium; probe; theranostic