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Selective fluorescent imaging of superoxide in vivo using ethidium-based probes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2006 Oct 10;103(41):15038-43 PMID: 17015830 PMCID: PMC1586181

Pubmed ID

17015830

Abstract

The putative oxidation of hydroethidine (HE) has become a widely used fluorescent assay for the detection of superoxide in cultured cells. By covalently joining HE to a hexyl triphenylphosphonium cation (Mito-HE), the HE moiety can be targeted to mitochondria. However, the specificity of HE and Mito-HE for superoxide in vivo is limited by autooxidation as well as by nonsuperoxide-dependent cellular processes that can oxidize HE probes to ethidium (Etd). Recently, superoxide was shown to react with HE to generate 2-hydroxyethidium [Zhao, H., Kalivendi, S., Zhang, H., Joseph, J., Nithipatikom, K., Vasquez-Vivar, J. & Kalyanaraman, B. (2003) Free Radic. Biol. Med. 34, 1359-1368]. However, 2-hydroxyethidium is difficult to distinguish from Etd by conventional fluorescence techniques exciting at 510 nm. While investigating the oxidation of Mito-HE by superoxide, we found that the superoxide product of both HE and Mito-HE could be selectively excited at 396 nm with minimal interference from other nonspecific oxidation products. The oxidation of Mito-HE monitored at 396 nm by antimycin-stimulated mitochondria was 30% slower than at 510 nm, indicating that superoxide production may be overestimated at 510 nm by even a traditional superoxide-stimulating mitochondrial inhibitor. The rate-limiting step for oxidation by superoxide was 4x10(6) M-1.s-1, which is proposed to involve the formation of a radical from Mito-HE. The rapid reaction with a second superoxide anion through radical-radical coupling may explain how Mito-HE and HE can compete for superoxide in vivo with intracellular superoxide dismutases. Monitoring oxidation at both 396 and 510 nm of excitation wavelengths can facilitate the more selective detection of superoxide in vivo.

Author List

Robinson KM, Janes MS, Pehar M, Monette JS, Ross MF, Hagen TM, Murphy MP, Beckman JS

Author

Jeannette M. Vasquez-Vivar PhD Professor in the Biophysics department at Medical College of Wisconsin

Scopus

2-s2.0-33750063955   487 Citations

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Animals, Newborn
Cells, Cultured
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Ethidium
Fluorescent Dyes
Microscopy, Confocal
Mitochondria
Phenanthridines
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Spectrometry, Fluorescence
Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
Superoxides