Temperature-sensitive fluorescent probe for introduction into cell
AssigneesKirin Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, The University of Tokyo
InventorsToshikazu Tsuji, Kumiko Ikado, Seiichi Uchiyama, Kyoko Kawamoto
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Abstract
There is provided a method for introducing a temperature-sensitive probe comprising a copolymer, which comprises a thermoresponsive unit and a fluorescent unit, into a cell, and the method using the copolymer further comprising a cationic unit as the temperature-sensitive probe, and the method comprising the step of mixing the copolymer with the cell in a solvent. The copolymer can be preferably used as a fluorescence temperature sensor which measures intracellular temperature since the copolymer has a cationic group and thus enters into a cell without using a special method.
Claims1
A method for producing a living cell containing a temperature-sensitive probe therein, said method comprising the step of mixing the temperature-sensitive probe with the living cell in a solvent, said solvent being selected from the group consisting of water, sorbitol aqueous solution, and glucose aqueous solution,
- wherein the temperature-sensitive probe comprises a copolymer, the copolymer comprising a thermoresponsive unit, a cationic unit, and a fluorescent unit,
- wherein the copolymer comprises repeating units represented by formula (I), formula (II), and formula (III),
- wherein formula (I) has the structure
- wherein formula (II) has the structure
- wherein formula (III) has a structure selected from the group consisting of
- wherein A, B, and C are each numerals greater than 0 which represent the ratio of each repeating unit in said copolymer, wherein the sum of A and B is 100, B is 3 to 7.5, and C is 0.5 to 1.5, and
- wherein, in the step of mixing the temperature-sensitive probe with the living cell in the solvent, the concentration of the probe is 0.01 to 0.1% w/v.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.