Shengjun Yang1, Weiping Jiang1, Qing Luo1, Qianni Guo1, and Xin Zhou1
Biothiols such as cysteine, homocysteine and glutathione play an important role in
regulating the vital functions of living organisms. Here, we report a biosensor
for biothiol detection and imaging using nuclear spin resonance of 129Xe.
The 129Xe biosensor consists of cryptophane-A cage encapsulating xenon
atom and acrylate group. The latter serves as a reactive site to covalently
bond biothiols through thiol-addition reaction. The selectivity of the
biosensor enables discrimination of Cys from Hcy and GSH through the chemical
reaction rate. Our results indicate that this biosensor is a promising strategy
for the real-time imaging of biothiol distributions.
