Two-Photon Probes for Golgi Apparatus: Detection of Golgi Apparatus in Live Tissue by Two-Photon Microscopy

We have developed blue- and yellow-emitting two-photon probes (BGolgi-blue and PGolgi-yellow) from 6-(benzo­[d]­oxazol-2-yl)-2-naphthalylamine and 2,5-bis­(benzo­[d]­oxazol-2-yl)­pyrazine derivatives as the fluorophores and trans-Golgi-network peptide (SDYQRL) as the Golgi-apparatus-targeting moiety. HeLa cells labeled with BGolgi-blue and PGolgi-yellow emitted two-photon-excited fluorescence at 462 and 560 nm, respectively, with effective two-photon-action cross-section values of 1860 and 1600 × 10^–50 cm⁴·s/photon, respectively. The probes can detect the Golgi apparatus in live cells and deep inside live tissue via two-photon microscopy at widely separated wavelength regions with high selectivity and minimal pH interference, and they are photostable and have low cytotoxicity.