Decoration of Autophagy Detecting Nanoparticle with an Anionic Fluorochrome Enhances Multispectral Characterization of Autophagosome Location and Flux.

ABSTRACT: Autophagy is a key biological process that has proven extremely difficult to detect noninvasively. To address this, an autophagy detecting nanoparticle (ADN) was recently developed, consisting of an iron oxide nanoparticle decorated with cathepsin-cleavable arginine-rich peptides bound to the near-infrared fluorochrome Cy5.5. Activation of the probe in autophagolysosomes results in the emission of Cy5.5 fluorescence and provides a measure of autophagosome flux. However, in the early autophagosome ADN fluorescence is silent due to fluorochrome stacking. Here, we introduce to ADN a second non-cleavable fluorophore that allows the probe to be tracked through all stages of autophagy. The nature of the secondary/tracking fluorophore has a profound effect on the activation of ADN and the emissio

SUBMITTER: Akam-Baxter E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11821426 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature