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Fluorescence probes to detect lipid-derived radicals

Abstract

Lipids and their metabolites are easily oxidized in chain reactions initiated by lipid radicals, forming lipid peroxidation products that include the electrophiles 4-hydroxynonenal and malondialdehyde. These markers can bind cellular macromolecules, causing inflammation, apoptosis and other damage. Methods to detect and neutralize the initiating radicals would provide insights into disease mechanisms and new therapeutic approaches. We describe the first high-sensitivity, specific fluorescence probe for lipid radicals, 2,2,6-trimethyl-4-(4-nitrobenzo[1,2,5]oxadiazol-7-ylamino)-6-pentylpiperidine-1-oxyl (NBD-Pen). NBD-Pen directly detected lipid radicals in living cells by turn-on fluorescence. In a rat model of hepatic carcinoma induced by diethylnitrosamine (DEN), NBD-Pen detected lipid radical generation within 1 h of DEN administration. The lipid radical scavenging moiety of NBD-Pen decreased inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress markers at 24 h after DEN, and liver tumor development at 12 weeks. Thus, we have developed a novel fluorescence probe that provides imaging information about lipid radical generation and potential therapeutic benefits in vivo.

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Figure 1: Spectroscopic responses and selectivity for lipid radicals.
Figure 2: Liver cell fluorescence imaging and in vivo detection of lipid radicals produced during DEN metabolism.
Figure 3: OH-Pen, but not OH-Pen-NOMe (NOMe), suppresses DEN-induced HCC.
Figure 4: Influence of OH-Pen and OH-Pen-NOMe (NOMe) on hepatic injury and compensatory cell proliferation.
Figure 5

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by JST PRESTO, by JSPS KAKENHI grant number 24390011 and 24659020, by the Platform Project for Supporting in Drug Discovery and Life Science Research from AMED, Japan, by the Suzuken Memorial Foundation, Nagoya, Japan, and by the Suntory Foundation for Life Sciences, Kyoto, Japan. We appreciate the technical support provided by the Research Support Center, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

K.Y. designed experiments and conceived and supervised the overall project. K.Y. also performed final data analysis and wrote the manuscript. F.M., Y.M., K.S. and Y.I. performed experiments and analyzed data for properties and mechanistic analysis of probes. S.I., A.F. and A.T. performed experiments and analyzed data for animal experiments. D.K. and M.E. performed experiments and analyzed data for cell experiments. M.A. performed experiments early in the project. T.Y. designed and performed chemical syntheses and wrote the synthetic methods for the manuscript. M.Y. designed experiments and performed final data analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ken-ichi Yamada.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Results, Supplementary Table 1 and Supplementary Figures 1–16. (PDF 19711 kb)

Supplementary Note

Synthetic procedures (PDF 190 kb)

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Yamada, Ki., Mito, F., Matsuoka, Y. et al. Fluorescence probes to detect lipid-derived radicals. Nat Chem Biol 12, 608–613 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.2105

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