Ruthenium(II) Complex Enantiomers as Cellular Probes for Diastereomeric Interactions in Confocal and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy.

ABSTRACT: Ruthenium dipyridophenazine (dppz) complexes are sensitive luminescent probes for hydrophobic environments. Here, we apply multiple-frequency fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) to ? and ? enantiomers of lipophilic ruthenium dppz complexes in live and fixed cells, and their different lifetime staining patterns are related to conventional intensity-based microscopy. Excited state lifetimes of the enantiomers determined from FLIM measurements correspond well with spectroscopically measured emission decay curves in pure microenvironments of DNA, phospholipid membrane or a model protein. We show that FLIM can be applied to monitor the long-lived excited states of ruthenium complex enantiomers and, combined with confocal microscopy, give new insight into their biomolecular binding and reveal differences in the microenvironment probed by the complexes.

SUBMITTER: Svensson FR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3065721 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature