Voltage-gated proton (Hv1) channels are involved in many physiological processes, such as pH homeostasis and the innate immune response. Zn2+ is an important physiological inhibitor of Hv1. Sperm cells are quiescent in the male reproductive system due to Zn2+ inhibition of Hv1 channels, but become active once introduced into the low-Zn2+-concentration environment of the female reproductive trac...

m-Benziporphodimethene is presented here as a long-wavelength Zn2+ specific chemosensor; this sensor shows fluorescence switch-on upon Zn2+ binding with no apparent background fluorescence.

Genetically encoded FRET-based sensor proteins have significantly contributed to our current understanding of the intracellular functions of Zn2+. However, the external excitation required for these fluorescent sensors can give rise to photobleaching and phototoxicity during long-term imaging, limits applications that suffer from autofluorescence and light scattering, and is not compatible with...

A PVC-based membrane of 12-crown-4 exhibits good response for Zn2+ in a wide concentration range (7.08  10-5-1.00  10-1 M) with a non-nernstian slope of 20.5 mv per decade of concentration of Zn2+. The response time of sensor is <10 s and the membrane can be used for more than 3 months without observing any divergence. In addition, the proposed sensor exhibits very good selectivity for Zn2+ o...

Nitric oxide (NO) is both an important regulatory molecule in biological systems and a toxic xenobiotic. Its oxidation products react with sulfhydryl groups and either nitrosylate or oxidize them. The aerobic reaction of NO supplied by diethylamine NONOate (DEA-NO) with pig kidney LLC-PK1 cells and Zn-proteins within the isolated proteome was examined with three fluorescent zinc sensors, zinqui...

Imaging mobile zinc in acidic environments remains challenging because most small-molecule optical probes display pH-dependent fluorescence. Here we report a reaction-based sensor that detects mobile zinc unambiguously at low pH. The sensor responds reversibly and with a large dynamic range to exogenously applied Zn2+ in lysosomes of HeLa cells, endogenous Zn2+ in insulin granules of MIN6 cells...

Zinc and copper are essential metal ions for numerous biological processes. Their levels are tightly maintained in all body organs. Impairment of the Zn2+ to Cu2+ ratio in serum was found to correlate with many disease states, including immunological and inflammatory disorders. Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide, and its activity is modulated by zinc and copper ion binding. Harnessing the intrinsi...

Transient receptor potential melastatin-related 2 (TRPM2) channel, a molecular sensor for reactive oxygen species (ROS), plays an important role in cognitive dysfunction associated with post-ischemia brain damage thought to result from ROS-induced TRPM2-dependent neuronal death during reperfusion. Emerging evidence further suggests that an alteration in the Zn2+ homeostasis is critical in ROS-i...

In a neutral aqueous environment, a new ratiometric Cd2+ fluorescent sensor 1a can successfully discriminate Cd2+ from Zn2+ by undergoing two different internal charge transfer (ICT) processes, and the high selectivity of sensor 1a to Cd2+ over some other metals was also observed. Moreover, through structure derivation and a series of NMR studies, the unique role of the 2-picolyl group (the par...